Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Home to Another Special Gorilla
Media Alert: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
NOTE:
Media will not have access to Oliver during the standard quarantine period of approximately one month. A photo of Oliver is available upon request.
Powell, OH - Colo, Toni, and Mac move over – the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is now home to another very special gorilla. Oliver T. Barney, an 18-year-old male lowland gorilla, arrived at the Columbus Zoo yesterday from his most recent home at Gorilla Haven in Georgia.
What sets Oliver apart from the 14 other gorillas at the Columbus Zoo is that he is deaf. No one knows what caused Oliver’s deafness, there is no reason to believe it is genetic, and it has been determined he is not a candidate for a cochlear implant.
Oliver was born at the Bronx Zoo on October 7, 1988 to Tunuka and Barney who were both born in the wild. Although he has 11 half siblings, he is the only offspring from this pairing. Oliver also lived at the Memphis Zoo before moving to Gorilla Haven in May 2006 where he lived apart from the facility’s only other gorilla, also an adult male. As part of the Zoo’s standard protocol, Oliver will spend about a month isolated from the other Columbus Zoo gorillas to monitor his health.
Oliver’s move to the Columbus Zoo was made as a result of a recommendation by the Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP). The goal of the SSP and the Columbus Zoo is to provide Oliver with individual specialized care while integrating him into a social group and giving him the opportunity to someday sire his own offspring. The gorilla program at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is internationally recognized for caring for gorillas in social groups including the placement of young gorillas with surrogate mothers to become integral members of a family group. There are about 850 gorillas in zoos worldwide including 370 in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan.
Habitat loss and deforestation have historically been the primary cause for declining populations of Africa’s great apes, but experts now agree that the illegal commercial bushmeat trade has surpassed habitat loss as the primary threat to ape populations. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium supports numerous conservation projects including the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance and the Human-Wildlife Conflict Collaboration. In 1991 the Columbus Zoo founded Partners in Conservation to conduct conservation and humanitarian programs benefiting both wildlife and people in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC.) Over the past five years the Columbus Zoo and Partners in Conservation has distributed more than $3.8 million in conservation grants worldwide.
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is open every day of the year 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. after Labor Day. General admission is $12 for adults, $7 for children ages 2 to 9 and seniors 60+. Children under 2 and Columbus Zoo members are free. The Zoo was named the #1 Zoo in America by USA Travel Guide and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA.) For more information and to purchase advance Zoo admission tickets, visit www.columbuszoo.org.
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