NEWS - MALE GORILLA GETS FEMALE COMPANIONS

Male gorilla gets female companions

2011-08-20 10:28

Sao Paulo - Two female gorillas have arrived at a zoo in southeastern Brazil to help a male gorilla end his more than two decades of bachelorhood.

A spokesperson for the zoo in the city of Belo Horizonte says Kifta and Imbi, both aged 11, arrived on Friday from the Port Lympne and Howletts wild animal parks in Kent, England.

Spokesperson Angela Lutterbach says they will keep 37-year-old Idi company after a 30-to 40-day quarantine period.

She says the three animals are of the Western Lowland Gorilla subspecies and are part of a larger plan to create a gorilla breeding centre in Brazil to guarantee the subspecies' survival.

Idi came from France's Saint-Jean-Cap Ferrat zoo in 1975 and has been alone since 1984 when his second mate died.