Gorillas draw 1m to London zoo

There are three gorillas at Gorilla Kingdom enclosure

Gorillas at the London Zoo have proved so popular that officials are expecting to see one million visitors this year.

About 120,000 people have visited the primates since the Gorilla Kingdom enclosure was unveiled just before Easter, zoo officials said.

During the Easter weekend 48,784 flocked to the zoo, an increase of more than 8,600 at the same time in 2006.

The £5.3m new enclosure currently houses three gorillas.

Wildest dreams

Bobby, aged 23 years, the only male, shares the enclosure with 32-year-old Zaire and 14-year-old Effie, who has recently arrived from Leipzig zoo in Germany.

London Zoo marketing manager James Bailey said: "We expected that Gorilla Kingdom would prove to be very popular with our visitors but the number of people visiting the zoo to see the brand-new exhibit has been beyond our wildest dreams."

Zoo officials are hoping Bobby will mate with Effie.

If the flow of visitors continues, officials believe they will easily surpass last year's figure of 883,000 visitors.