Safiri

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 left across their African range. Safiri was born into this critically endangered subspecies at Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands, daughter of Kriba and Kibabu. Her life began in June 1996, but she would not stay in one place for long.

At just six months old, she made her first international move to Taronga Zoo in Australia. This transfer marked the beginning of an unusually mobile life for a gorilla in managed care. She spent nearly a decade at Taronga before moving to Adelaide Zoo in 2006, where her stay lasted just over a year.

Her final transfer brought her to Zoo Duisburg in Germany in May 2007. There she lived for nearly thirteen years, the longest period she spent at any single facility. Tragically, she died under anesthesia effects in February 2020 at the age of 23.

Her four transfers across multiple continents reflect the complex management of gorilla populations in zoos worldwide. Each move was part of coordinated breeding programs designed to maintain genetic diversity within the critically endangered western lowland gorilla subspecies.