Durrell News

Ya Kwanza - An Ambassador for his Species

3^rd June 2009

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s family of western lowland gorillas will be joining in the celebrations as the dominant male, Ya Kwanza reaches his 25th birthday tomorrow. The silverback will be presented with a large birthday cake, made of ingredients suitable for their dietary needs.

The celebrations come during WAZA’s (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) Year of the Gorilla, which is designed to create awareness and encourage organisations to take strategic approaches to gorilla conservation that are practical, manageable and accessible to many people.

Durrell is also pleased to announce the Ya Pili Appeal Fund that was set up in 2007 has now raised close to £10,000 for gorilla conservation, £6500 of which has already been sent to Wildlife Direct to help support the battle against the threats to mountain gorillas in Virungas National Park, Northern Congo.

Ya Kwanza was born in Melbourne Zoo and was named Mzuri, which was his public name. He is still regarded as a celebrity as he was the first gorilla born in Australia and the first to be born as a result of artificial insemination. Reporters from Melbourne’s Channel 9 TV station were in the island last week, bringing the Ya Kwanza story up to date. Since his arrival in 1993, the silverback has fathered two offspring here at the Trust. His son, Mapema, is now in Germany where he has just sired his first offspring, a son.

Richard Johnstone-Scott has been working with gorillas for over forty years; “At 25 years old, Ya Kwanza is in his prime. Despite the fact that he weighs in at approximately 34 stone and carries a serious expression, he is an extremely good natured animal who gets on well with his keepers, and he is a good ambassador for his wild cousins who continue to suffer extreme hardship.”

Richard will be launching himself out of a plane during a fundraising sky-dive on the 18th June to raise further funds for the Ya Pili Appeal, following the sky-dive by a team from Durrell last summer.
 

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