The untimely death of Bantú, the male gorilla at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, means that the two female residing at the Guadalajara facility, Chencha and Faustina, are likely to live out the rest of their days without a mate.
Partners for Chencha and Faustina cannot be brought in from abroad because Mexican law prohibits the importation of all ape species, except for scientific reasons.
The only other gorilla in Mexico, Arila, is also female. She lives at a zoo in Zacango, State of Mexico.
Bantú died from an incorrectly administered sedative last month just as he was to be transported to the Guadalajara Zoo.
Faustina is the offspring of Chencha, now 31, and her late mate, Chato, who both arrived in Guadalajara 17 years ago from Ecuatorial Guinea, at a time laws governing the importing and exporting of wildlife were less strict.