Gorilla Dies After "Unexpected" Level Of Aggression From Male Silverback At Melbourne Zoo

    The aggression, said by zoo officials to be an act of dominance, was witnessed by a group of school children on Friday morning.

    Brad Esposito
    by Brad Esposito

    BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia

    Melbourne Zoo announced on Monday the death of 33-year-old female gorilla Julia, after complications developed from injuries inflicted by a young male silverback.

    zoo.org.au

    The Herald Sun reported that a group of students witnessed the aggression, something the zoo claims is a regular occurrence in gorilla relationships.

    "Silverbacks assert their dominance as a normal part of their behaviour. In this instance, the results of the aggression Otana displayed towards Julia on Friday were unexpected and unprecedented," Melbourne Zoo said in a statement.

    Thirteen-year-old Otana arrived at Melbourne Zoo in 2013, having reached the age to leave his family in the United Kingdom.

    David Crosling / AAPIMAGE

    Otana is still an inexperienced group leader, which may account for his actions and "unexpected and unprecedented" aggression towards Julia.

    In terms of this happening in the wild; yes fighting occurs when a male exerts dominance but it generally happens between males. When we had reports of fighting via some of our visitors on Friday, our keepers monitored the group throughout the day. It is often confronting and difficult to watch such aggression between animals, however to intervene would require darting and separation of the male gorilla and this could cause further aggression and most certainly destabilise the group.