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MUMBAI - India's only gorilla, Polo, needs a mate after eight years on his own, but a worldwide search for a suitable match has drawn a frustrating blank, zoo officials said Wednesday.
The 36-year-old western lowland gorilla has been at Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens in the southern city of Mysore since 1995, and alone since his mate Sumathi died in 2000.
Zoo manager Siddappa Shivanna said an international hunt for a female to share his pen at the 116-year-old zoo had been unsuccessful, and the ageing bachelor is getting lonely.
"We try to put play items in all the enclosures and we want Polo to be active but there is no substitute for a companion," he told AFP by telephone.
"We would prefer to have a mating partner but if it's not possible even a social partner would be a good thing. He's the only gorilla in the country."
Polo was brought to Mysore from Dublin Zoo in Ireland to mate with Sumathi but they did not have any offspring, mainly because she was already 46 when they were paired up.
He is now worried that if no one can be found, Polo himself will be too old to father any baby gorillas.
Western lowland gorillas are native to forests in equatorial Africa and are endangered due to illegal hunting, disease and habitat loss.
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