Johari

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 left across their African range. At the Bronx Zoo, one member of this critically endangered subspecies has called the Wildlife Conservation Society home since birth. Johari entered the world on September 8, 2005, born to parents Julia and Zuri.

Captive breeding programs like the one at Bronx Zoo help maintain genetic diversity for Gorilla gorilla gorilla, the most numerous but still threatened of the gorilla subspecies. He has spent nearly two decades as part of the same troop where he was born, growing from infant to adult under the care of experienced keepers.

Now approaching his twentieth year, Johari represents the importance of managed care for great apes. His subspecies carries the IUCN’s most severe conservation classification, making every birth in accredited facilities part of a larger effort to preserve these remarkable primates for future generations.