The genetic and demographic status of the Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla g. gorilla) in captivity

There are over 600 gorillas in captivity of which 43% are now captive born. Because the wild population is threatened and trade represents a major threat to its long-term survival, the captive population needs to be managed to be demographicalry stable over the long term, while retaining a substantial amount of genetic variation. Projected trends in population size and structure, based on recent fecundity and survival rates, suggest that the captive population will decline slowly unless infant mortality rates can be reduced. From a genetic standpoint, however, the large number of wild-born animals and large population size suggest that there should be no difficulty in achieving genetic aims to preserve 90% heterozygosity over the next 200 years.