Ekan, the only gorilla born in Andalusia, turns three years old at Bioparc Fuengirola

7 November 2023

Ekan, the only gorilla born in Andalusia, turns three years old at Bioparc Fuengirola

On November 7, 2020, one of the most important milestones in the history of Bioparc Fuengirola and for the 'ex situ' conservation of one of the most endangered primates on the planet took place: the birth of Ekan, a small western lowland gorilla. This day the park's technical team began its daily work in the interior facilities without imagining the surprise that awaited them. During that night Buu, the female gorilla, had given birth to a small male who became the first western lowland gorilla born in Andalusia.

Three years later, visitors can continue contemplating the enormous evolution of this calf. Although he has grown quite a bit, he is still the smallest of the group and attracts the attention of both his family members and visitors who have the privilege of enjoying this wonder of the animal world.

Ekan has gone from being on his mother's lap twenty-four hours a day, to continually exploring the entire facility and continuously interacting with the rest of the group members, Echo - his father - and Wefa, the other young female. Little by little, Ekan will become independent and experience social changes. Until four or five years old, the evolution of the little one will be marked by the character of the male and his power in the group, so the relationship that he is establishing with this figure is essential.

This growth and opening of relationships with the rest of the gorillas is allowing keepers to begin establishing training guidelines to facilitate possible future management.

Almost 20 years working to protect and conserve this species

Bioparc Fuengirola has been collaborating since 2004 in the conservation of the species, the year in which it received a non-reproductive group of gorillas made up of two females and one male. After the loss of the male Ersnt in 2017, due to his advanced age, EAZA and the coordinator of the European Endangered Species Program (EEP) did not hesitate to assign the park the mission of hosting a reproductive group of these primates and facing a role active in the program.

The team's long experience and deep knowledge of gorillas was decisive for this assignment. This new breeding group began to form with the arrival, in 2018, of Echo and Buu. The young Wefa would complete it in 2019, and the birth of Ekan would continue the path.

Lowland gorilla conservation program: a species in serious danger of extinction

This is one of the first conservation programs launched by EAZA and thanks to which a population of 463 individuals has been achieved; an achievement achieved thanks to the coordinated work of 69 European zoological institutions. Despite this important achievement that ensures the survival of the subspecies, western lowland gorillas remain critically endangered in the wild.

The Malaga Bioparc It is the only park in Andalusia where you can see this impressive species. And it is also one of the five Spanish parks where you can see an entire family of gorillas.

A job that crosses borders

The work carried out at Bioparc Fuengirola, Bioparc Valencia, Bioparc Acuario Gijón, and the Bioparc Foundation is not only limited to the parks, but also It can be extended to the natural habitats from which these species come.

In the case of the lowland gorilla, the Bioparc Foundation has been cooperating closely with the program since 2012. Ebo Forest Research Project, an initiative that works in the protection of the gorilla population of the Ebo forest, in Cameroon. This project promotes, above all, the establishment of the highest level of protection in Africa, the National Park, in the Ebo forest, which would greatly reduce the greatest threats faced by this forest and its inhabitants. : poaching and illegal extraction of forest resources.

One of the latest achievements was the launch of an international awareness campaign when, in the midst of a pandemic, the forest was about to be cut down and transformed into an oil palm plantation, a disaster that could only be stopped through direct international pressure on the Government of Cameroon itself.

Thanks to the support of the Bioparc Foundation, among other conservation entities from all over the planet, and the committed visitor to Bioparc, today the gorillas of the Ebo forest, and many other animal and plant species, conserve the jungle where they live.