Tightrope walking gorilla gets the girls

Zoo staff say that a tightrope walking gorilla's attempts to impress the ladies apppear to have paid off.

Kidogo has been accepted as a mate by both of the females in his enclosure since his high wire display at Germany's Krefeld Zoo.

One keeper said: "They can't seem to get enough of his company - his high wire jinks really do the trick."

Zoo spokeswoman Petra Schwinn added: "It's too early to see if the pairing will result in offspring immediately but we are optimistic, a pregnancy takes almost nine months in gorillas, similar to humans, but we will know more in a few months."

And keepers believe they may have discovered the inspiration for the gorilla's high wire stunts - humans.

Ms Schwinn said: "We have observed he really seems to prefer walking upright like a human, we think he might be copying the visitors.

"And because he wants to show whose boss he's showing that he can do it better than we can - by walking on a high wire. He really is a unique animal."

When he first arrived the big ape's keepers were concerned that 12-year-old Kidogo appeared homesick following a move from Denmark's Givskud Zoo at the end of March.

He was brought in after the zoo's previous male gorilla Massa was found to be too old and had become infertile, but they now believe he was just looking at the best way to show himself off to females Muna, 23 and Oya, 24.

The tightrope had been intended for him to hang from but keepers were amazed when he climbed up and began walking on it instead.