Why is Patrick the silverback so different and living alone?

A conversation with retired Toronto zookeeper, Kim Meehan, who helped raise Patrick from 6 months to 2 years.
Having kept up with him through his lifetime, Kim answers all your questions. Why does Patrick live alone? Will he ever mate? And so much more! #gorillas #silverback #gorilla #silverbackgorilla

[@fee4900]

If Patrick prefers humans over gorillas, give him what he wants. He needs a family and social time. So give him daily attention and social time

[@quantumentanglement-007]

I am a self confessed gorilla fanatic. I watch as many groups as I can, however most zoos do not have dedicated video makers that also love gorillas. Freddie is an amazing female with powerful maternal instincts and the group has accepted Jamela as a member of their troop. Even little Kayembe at 2 and a half is being gentle with the baby. This came onto my feed as a direct result of how many troops I follow. Genatro, Ringo are my favorites, but there is always room for many more in my heart.

[@epicFrogman]

Momotaro family in Japan is my favorite and unfortunately they have the worst enclosure, but somehow their genetics is so overpowering.

[@NanaVicki1]

Me too.

[@NanaVicki1]

Their nose is a shape of a heart lol

[@quantumentanglement-007]

@@epicFrogman The zoo is trying to fix that situation since the last of the lemurs (if I recall correctly) died and their enclosure is right next to the gorilla enclosure. This may not be ready in time for Gentaro to move over to the new enclosure in time, so he might have to go to another zoo. Not sure what is happening there.

[@quantumentanglement-007]

@@epicFrogman I agree that Momoko's children and grandchildren are very pretty gorillas.

[@charlesmccoy5857]

Jameela has been fully accepted into the troop in Cleveland. Fredrica is actually nursing both Jameela and her other foster child Kayembe who is 2 1/2 years old. First time for me hearing about Patrick, sounds like he has had a pretty hard time of it. Unfortunately, there are a few other gorillas in the same fix around the world. It's very sad to think about them going through life living alone. Thank you for sharing this information with us. Take Care, Stay Safe, Be Well, Mac from Georgia

[@MySkinnydip]

Patrick was and still is a beautiful baby!🥹🫶🏽

[@sherryfrische4391]

Freddy is the best MOM every!!

[@Sammy-kn2nb]

And then the AMAZING gorilla mom Freddie came to the rescue once again for another little baby in need of a nurturing and loving momma. I hope Patrick gets a chance to have a family one day.

[@GorillaSeeker]

Listen to part two of the interview about Patrick.

[@erykah835]

He so handsome looking 🤩❤️🦍

[@78LedHead]

Oh wow, what a handsome fellow he is. He's as good looking as D'Jeeco from Taipei.

[@quantumentanglement-007]

In my opinion D"jeeco is super chill with his naughty sons (especially Jabali). To me Momotaro is the most handsome and Gentaro is a close second. Little Riki may have a chance to be an amazing silverback and be the most handsome by far, but they are all related to Momoko which means that being good looking runs in the family.

[@78LedHead]

@@quantumentanglement-007 Really? I don't find them attractive at all. Gentaro's eyes are so close together. Lovely animals though. D'Jeeco is next level. Ringo is the most handsome to ever live.

[@quantumentanglement-007]

@@78LedHead Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ringo is indeed very good looking boy and so sweet in his nature. I have loved Gentaro ever since I saw him as a toddler wearing a a blue plastic pail on his head.

[@quantumentanglement-007]

D"jeeco is a super laid back father. But he still has to deal with naughty Jabali and naughty Tayari. Tayari's mother Gyasi was also naughty. I guess it's in the blood. Hahaha

[@lesliewallace9665]

@78LedHead Ringo ❤❤❤❤❤

[@NanaVicki1]

Patti is a beautiful silver back. His hair seems longer and so dark black, hes breathtakingly handsome

[@quantumentanglement-007]

To me they are all as different from each other as humans are.

[@DiKambingcorn]

Thank you Karen.

[@shawna6683]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this manner. Videos like this are sorely needed for context. One thing, I *think* the SSP chairperson/director is at Cleveland Zoo.

[@GorillaSeeker]

Thanks for sharing!

[@neptunes3279]

Thank you for this. You posted a video yesterday and I was questioning why Patrick was on his own and that he must be lonely. It's lovely to hear from Kim and her experiences with him. He was, as all gorilla babies are, incredibly cute. It's interesting how the care and integration of these magnificent animals have changed over the years and I would guess will continue to evolve as our understanding changes. He had a difficult start to life which is incredibly sad and I'm glad he had Jabari to play with when he was younger. One has to think, how different his life might have been if Charles could of got past his animosity with Barney. I look forward to part 2. 💖💖🦍

[@sandraaguirre1906]

Why didn't he had a surrogate mother gorilla like other baby gorillas.😢 Hugs to Patrick. ❤

[@pineapplewaterr]

I’m not certain why you couldn’t have had this interview on Skype or zoom or any other format. I’m sure others feels like I do and it is more difficult to pay attention or watch with a non visual phone call. I did find it sad how many gorillas passed away in captivity. She continues the story as if it were a regular occurrence.

[@gregsutton2400]

maybe not for you then

[@hoptoit5910]

Gorillas absolutely can get depressed and fret. There’s a female gorilla in Japan, Genki. I don’t know the full back story but I believe her mother then father died (or it might have been a potential mate that died. Someone else may be able to correct me there) and that affected her badly. As she was alone at Kyoto Zoo they sent her to another zoo in Japan as there was a silverback there. That didn’t work out and I believe there was also another female gorilla who didn’t like Genki. I guess you could say she was badly bullied. Poor Genki was miserable and lost so much weight (around 90lbs which is a huge weight loss) she also started to chew her fingers off. They sent her back to Kyoto as she most likely would have died. They then introduced a young silverback into her home. She had 2 baby boys with him and life is now great for sweet Genki once again.

[@GorillaSeeker]

What a sad story but I’m glad it had a happy ending.

[@PatriciaPageMosaicArtsCrafts]

Genki was moved to another zoo for breeding everything was going well until Momotaros mother Momoko came and bullied Genki so much until it drove her crazy, things got worse when the Silverback died from choking on food and Genki took it real badly, she bit off her toes and fingers, she started to overeat then would bring it all back up again, she lost a great deal of weight. Genki became so ill they decided to send her back to her mother, Genkis mother accepted her and bought Genki back. The irony that Genki had 2 boys with her bully's son, bless her. ❤❤❤

[@makaveli087]

"Fratenize with the bloody dirty apes?! And end up just like my FATHER?! That would be not only a grave injustice to myself but to my people of the 17th Crimson BlueBird Galaxy. Also, My name is not PATRICK, Kidnapping Serf Criminals! I am Lord King Nathanial Nottagorilla VI & you WILL ALL KNOW MY NAME IN DUE TIME!" - -Patrick- ~Lord King Nathanial Nottagorilla VI

[@heatherschutte5577]

I know Charles. from theToronto Zoo tv show. He was big and bossy. 🇨🇦

[@quantumentanglement-007]

Patrick is new to me. This is a sad tale, but not uncommon unfortunately.

[@sherryfrische4391]

Patrick looks like Kintaro from the Kyoto City Zoo in Japan when he was a baby.

[@fee4900]

OFCOURSE they can get sad.

[@quantumentanglement-007]

They can be depressed the same as any other animal. The Momotaro group stopped eating when Momo was ill and separated from the troop. The Kelly troop was depressed when Evelyn passed. Some male gorillas can live in bachelor groups quite well, but others have a more alpha personality that prevents them from getting along with any other males.

[@paulnegro8383]

They need to try to put him with another group so he won’t spend his life lonely.

[@quantumentanglement-007]

Most of the time bachelor groups have grown up together or have been introduced over a long period of time. Denny is such an introduction and it has worked out well so far.

[@eunicestone6532]

Maybe get him a cat or a dog. Or some crazy baboons.

[@teeteepalooza]

I’m a big primate fan. But folks it’s 2024; it’s not necessary to endure the limitations, including fuzzy audio, of a *telephone* interview.

[@GorillaSeeker]

I don’t want to say too much about it, but this was the way it was decided to do the interview

[@blossums7]

😢😢Poor Jabari. He was probably just frightened and confused. Wonder why they didn’t just tranquilize him. I think they should be responsible for having those ready and available for incidents like this. So sad.

[@susan2436]

Give Patti a human family. What about Digits house?

[@lolanoneya]

Not thrilled with listening to a phone conversation, the key word being "listening".

[@GorillaSeeker]

I’m sorry you did not like the mode but this is how it needed to be done for all parties to be happy

[@lolanoneya]

@@GorillaSeeker Does that mean I was not in a party?

[@darlingsapphire1]

PATRICK'S FATHER WAS SILVERBACK 'BARNEY' AT METRO TORONTO ZOO, NOT BERNIE.

[@kathleenclark291]

I have seen many innovative ways being used to show gorilla females how to care for their newborn... from providing films to watch to a human woman showing how to breast feed. Every effort should be made to keep mom with baby. It is as important to not interfere as it is to protect the species.

[@DiKambingcorn]

Is Cenzoo hos Father?

[@GorillaSeeker]

No, unrelated.

[@Marcia811]

Are these Mountain Gorillas?

[@swampsagacity4685]

No. These are Western Lowland gorillas. There are no mountain gorillas in zoos. They are in the wild or in preserves in Africa.

[@HankandLouie]

Western Lowland Gorillas 🦍

[@urbanpreppingwithpam916]

These are Lowland gorillas. Mountain gorillas have never successfully survived zoo captivity.

[@Kiowa371]

They are Western lowland Gorillas. Mountain gorillas wouldn’t make it in captivity.

[@pamcunningham9608]

No, these and the other gorillas you see in zoos are Western lowland gorillas. I believe there is one Grauer's gorilla and one Mountain gorilla in zoos in Europe.