Tano the gorilla is a male. It was finally confirmed by genetic tests - National Geographic

Author: Editor

08. 12. 2011

To the Czech scientists, the siblings of RNDr. Marko Minárik, PhD. and RNDr. Lucia Benešová, PhD. from the company Genomac, managed to find out with 100% certainty the gender of the newborn gorilla cub of the Prague Zoo. It is already their third gorilla cub, whose gender was determined using DNA sampling. Tano is a male gorilla. In contrast to the Moja samples, Tan's sex was verified from DNA in the hair, and by placing the cub in an incubator, obtaining samples and thus determining the sex was less complicated than, for example, Moja.

In the case of Tan and his sex determination using DNA analysis, the situation was different due to his location in the incubator, obviously less complicated for taking an uncontaminated sample. Gorilla hair samples were obtained very quickly. However, it was not completely simple either. When the gender was determined, there were already three cubs in the paddock, whose father is Richard. In Moja's case it was different because she was the first cub. Today we already know the DNA profiles of all members of the gorilla group.

What is needed to determine the sex of a gorilla?

For gender determination analysis, an uncontaminated sample from the cells of the examined individual, which contains DNA, is needed. Cells are continuously sloughed off and get into various body fluids. If the sample is saliva, then the cells are obtained from the gums of the gorilla, the cells get into the feces from the intestines. In the case of hair analysis, as was the case with Tan, it is necessary that the follicle, i.e. the root, is part of the hair. The root contains living organisms. As the cells are constantly exfoliated, the risk of spoilage of the samples is quite high. "All it takes is for the baby's droppings to fall on the ground, where other members of the gorilla troop were also moving, and the sample will be contaminated. We then have to chemically break down the obtained uncontaminated samples in the laboratory in order to so-called isolate the DNA and thus obtain the information we are interested in. Specific section We then multiply the DNA using an enzyme and evaluate it using special devices," explained Lucie Benešová.

The history of the genes of the Prague gorillas

The birth in the gorilla group in the Prague Zoo is always an extraordinary event that does not happen every year. Everything increases the interest of visitors and the public, which is certainly understandable for the closest residents of the zoo. Although gorillas have been breeding regularly in foreign European facilities for many years, Czech breeders waited a very long time for "their" first gorilla, until 2004.

Conditions for successful breeding were established in Prague only with the construction of a new gorilla pavilion. A new female, Bikira, moved in at the end of last year to the group, restored after the 2003 flood. The goal of her arrival was to give her the opportunity to reproduce in a complete family group. Despite the six-month period of adaptation to the new environment and the demanding process of socialization in the new family, Bikira's first mating with the silver-backed male Richard took place relatively soon. Pregnancy tests also confirmed the pregnancy, only we could not estimate the date of birth with certainty. The birth ended up being about a week earlier than our earliest expectation. However, Bikira was unable to take care of her first cub as a completely inexperienced mother. All that was left was to try to remove the cub and try to return them to their mother after stabilizing them in the incubator. This provided the opportunity to check the gender of the small gorilla "in hand" for the first time, since all the previous cubs were cared for by the second mother - Kijiva - and therefore any inspection was not possible.

"Despite the instructional photos of foreign colleagues, we were only about 95% sure that the cub (later named Tano) was male. And so the obligatory question arose again: penis or clitoris?, which accompanies the Prague gorilla cubs already from the birth of Moji. In the end, it was solved independently by two expert opinions, which were based on completely different methodologies - a sophisticated analysis in the Genomac laboratories and a quick look by the breeders of a foreign nursery for great apes, who have already passed through their hands dozens of babies with a similar life story to Tano's. Tano is really male and we have more experience," says RNDr. Pavel Brandl, Ph.D., curator of mammal breeding at the Prague ZOO.

Why do gorilla DNA?

Just as families create genealogical trees, we also have such a tree for gorillas, which so far looks completely human. Small gorillas are listed there as own and half-siblings. It's important. From the point of view of genetics, incest in the family is just as problematic in animals as it is in humans. When two individuals with similar DNA join together, the probability that the offspring will have a problem increases.

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