Gorilla move a success

​In nature, there comes a time in a male gorilla's life when he either becomes the head of the family or moves off to live alone or with other adult males in what are called "bachelor" groups. At Ape Action Africa, they need a little help moving.

With their night house complete, featuring a separate room for each of them, Nkan, Shai and Djanga were moved from our largest gorilla group to their new habitat in late April.

And you don't just walk a silverback gorilla to his new home!

One by One
Due to their size and the need to limit their sedation to as short a time as possible, the gorillas were each moved individually.

One Gorilla, Eight Men
Silverbacks are big boys. You can see here the strain on their faces as 8 of our strongest staff carry Nkan Daniel on the stretcher to the waiting "ambulance."

Transport 
​Here we're on the way to their new forest area, a very large forested enclosure far enough away from the family group to avoid the boys competing for the girls. As you can see, just one silverback fills up the bed of our Land Cruiser pickup.

Health Checks
The staff works to lift Nkan's stretcher and attach it to the hook of the scale (in the center top of the photo) in order to get his weight. 174 kilos, by the way, or 384 pounds, and all muscle.

As you can see, this is taking place in the night house, in one of the rooms which was specially fitted out as a veterinary room to meet future health needs with minimal transport required. The exam/procedure table that you see here was built of rebar and concrete to hold the size and weight of an adult gorilla. 

Success
Everything went according to plan and all three silverbacks were moved in one day. For now, they are in the night house getting used to the sights, sounds and smells of their new area, and to their being alone together. Soon they'll be introduced to their forest area and be free to explore, play, rest, whatever they wish.