Komale

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 left across their African range. Komale represents one of the captive-born males helping to maintain genetic diversity in European breeding programs. His parents, Salome and Jock, produced him at Bristol Zoo Gardens in December 2006.

Raised within Bristol’s established gorilla troop, he spent nearly a decade developing under his mother’s care. The transition from juvenile to adult male occurred gradually over those formative years, as keepers monitored his growth and social development within the group.

In July 2016, he made the move to Safaripark Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands. The transfer marked a new chapter for the then nine-year-old male, integrating him into a different social structure. His subspecies carries the IUCN classification of Critically Endangered, making each captive-born gorilla valuable for long-term conservation efforts.

Now approaching his eighteenth year, he continues his role within the Dutch facility’s gorilla population. Captive breeding programs like the ones that produced him remain essential as wild populations face ongoing threats from habitat loss and human encroachment across Central and West Africa.