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Basel (Switzerland) – Horrifying scenes in the monkey enclosure at Basel Zoo: Here silverback Yeba (14) killed two other gorillas in his group. Among the killed animals is his own baby. The cub died at just four days old. Zoo staff are on guard – and completely confused.
14-year-old silver Yeba arrived in Switzerland from France in October. His adaptation was uneven, he said. Zoo in Basel. There were repeated quarrels with the eleven-year-old boy Mobali, although he was castrated. “Based on the care and observation of gorillas in other European zoos, it is unknown whether such a constellation is fundamentally conflict-prone,” the spokesman said.
Gorilla Mobali was brutally killed
Bite in the genital area
On Tuesday, the dispute between the two gorillas came to a head when Yeba bit Mobali in the genital area and had to be euthanized. After the brutal attack, the eleven-year-old animal could no longer write properly. The incident occurred despite the zoo having created safe shelters and closely monitoring the animals. When asked if the gorillas could not have been separated during the fight, zoo staff told BILD: “Basel Zoo takes a natural approach that allows the animals to express their natural social behavior.”
On the same day, Yeba’s second attack occurred: the gorilla tore its own baby from the breast of Joas’s mother. When he no longer let the mother gorilla near the baby, a fight broke out between the parents. The baby was bitten in the chest by her own father – and he died.
Mother gorilla Joas holding another baby
Mom grieves over dead child
Now the mother is grieving. She carries her dead child through the enclosure. The zoo describes this as normal behavior and does not intervene. Joas will have to say goodbye. The group is now being watched especially closely, also because even more children are expected. There are currently three other gorillas living in the group: Adira (19), Makala (11) and Kaziba (6).
Big in the wild apes According to the Basel Zoo, males often kill young animals. But most of the time, no offspring are born from them.