A 37-year-old silverback gorilla named Shango has joined the gorilla troop at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, the zoo announced, months after the death of its longtime dominant male. Shango traveled to South Carolina from Brookfield Zoo Chicago, and zookeepers plan to introduce him to the zoo's three female gorillas as part of a carefully monitored transition.
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden said Shango's arrival marks a new chapter for its gorilla troop, according to Post and Courier. The zoo said Shango will be introduced to Riverbanks' female gorillas, Acacia, Kazi and Macy, while its animal care team monitors the health and behavior of both Shango and the females throughout the process. The zoo did not specify in its Nov. 11 Facebook post when exactly Shango arrived.
Shango is known for his stoic demeanor and a distinctive hand gesture, the result of a healed injury he sustained while playing with his brother, Barney, as a young gorilla. His previous care team described him as playful and enthusiastic in training once his trust is earned. Shango was born at the San Francisco Zoo, and the same report notes he and Barney later moved to Zoo Miami in 2017 from Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas, according to cbsnews.com.
From Miami to Chicago to Columbia
Before landing in Columbia, Shango and Barney were medically cleared for transfer from Zoo Miami to Brookfield Zoo Chicago, per CBS News Miami. The brothers were expected to form Brookfield's first-ever bachelor gorilla troop, as adult silverbacks coming to the Illinois zoo from Miami, according to WGN-TV. Guests should not expect to see Shango on exhibit right away, since the zoo said he may not be visible to guests for periods during the introduction process with the Riverbanks females.
Gorillas commonly live either in family groups led by a silverback or in all-male bachelor groups. Brookfield Zoo Chicago describes bachelor groups as a natural social structure that lets males maintain social bonds and display species-typical behavior; Shango and his brother Barney formed the zoo’s first bachelor troop after arriving from Miami. Riverbanks’ planned introduction will place Shango in a different kind of group, with three females. Brookfield’s explanation of bachelor troops outlines the social structure.
The arrival follows the death of Cenzoo, the gorilla who had anchored Riverbanks' troop for more than a decade after arriving in Columbia in 2015. Cenzoo died in June after several months of health complications; a medical evaluation had found a mass near his colon and fluid in his abdomen, according to southcarolinapublicradio.org. He was remembered as a western lowland gorilla known as a strong, patient father, born in 1996 at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
Working With the Species Survival Plan
After Cenzoo's death, Riverbanks worked with the Gorilla Species Survival Plan to determine next steps for the troop, the zoo said. That same cooperative program has shaped much of the troop's history: Riverbanks welcomed Cenzoo along with Acacia, Kazi and Macy back in 2015 as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Gorilla Species Survival Plan, and that group's public debut came only after a nearly four-month introduction process, according to GoUpstate.
The Species Survival Plan is a coordinated population-management program, not simply a series of individual zoo transfers. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Population Management Center conducts genetic and demographic analyses and distributes recommendations to participating institutions; AZA says breeding and transfer plans are designed to support healthy, genetically diverse and demographically stable populations. That framework helps explain why moves such as Shango’s and the earlier transfers involving Riverbanks’ troop are planned across institutions. AZA’s Population Management Center describes how the recommendations are developed.
Cenzoo also fathered two Riverbanks-born sons, ZaKota and Moyo, who were later relocated to a bachelor troop in Dallas, per southcarolinapublicradio.org. That move was recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan Breeding and Transfer Plan, according to WACH, with the pair relocating to Dallas Zoo in March under the plan, per a Riverbanks Zoo and Garden release. Riverbanks staff had spent two years preparing Moyo and ZaKota for the move, with each gorilla expected to know more than 30 trained behaviors supporting participation in their own medical care, the Post and Courier previously reported.
Western lowland gorillas, the species Shango and the Riverbanks troop belong to, are critically endangered due to habitat loss, poaching and disease, according to WGN-TV. That backdrop underscores why coordinated breeding and transfer programs among accredited zoos play such a central role in managing gorilla populations like the one now taking shape in Columbia.
The transfers take place against a broader conservation concern: western lowland gorillas are classified as critically endangered, and their population in the wild has declined by more than 60% over the past 20 to 25 years, the World Wildlife Fund says. The species ranges across Central Africa, where poaching and disease are among the threats; WWF also notes that the exact wild population is unknown because many gorillas live in remote rainforest. WWF’s western lowland gorilla profile details the decline and ongoing threats.
A silverback named Patrick will continue as a peripheral silverback separate from the rest of the troop, the zoo said. Riverbanks also announced it will soon bid farewell to a rhino moving to another accredited zoo for a breeding program. Online commenters recalled meeting Shango in Chicago, and the gorilla received online well wishes and excitement after Riverbanks' announcement.
