LONDON, March 1 (AFP) - Ooh la la! A frisky French gorilla on the prowl in Britain has been turning on the Gallic charm full blast, London Zoo said Monday.

Yeboah, a 12-year-old stud, was given pictures of the zoo's three more experienced female gorillas in advance and was left under no illusions: it's time to be a man.

Zaire, 35, Effie, 16 and Jookie, 11, were left bereft after their silverback mate Bobby died in December 2008.

But they have barely been able to leave Yeboah alone since the 20-stone (127-kilogramme) beast stomped into town from La Boissiere Du Dore zoo in western France shortly before Christmas last year.

"Yeboah's a very charming gorilla and is having to quickly turn from a boy into man now he's met our more experienced female gorillas," said zookeeper Daniel Simmonds.

In the next few months, visitors will be able to watch Yeboah transform from a blackback into a silverback gorilla as he learns to dominate his new group.

"He lived with a silverback gorilla before he came here which means that he has remained a blackback gorilla -- but that's definitely going to change now he's dating three girls at once," Simmonds said.

Blackbacks are sexually mature adults up to 11 years old, but then turn into silverbacks when a patch of silver hair appears on their backs around the age of 12 and they become a dominant group leader.