The Pittsburgh Zoo will send a young western lowland gorilla to Boston later this year, while Little Joe, the beloved silverback who has resided at Franklin Park Zoo for decades, will head to Steel City.

Frankie, a 7-year-old male, will be one of two new male gorillas moving to Franklin Park Zoo this year, zoo officials announced Thursday.

Little Joe, a 400-pound silverback who has been captivating visitors at Franklin Park since 1997, is heading to Pittsburgh as part of the exchange.

Last month, Franklin Park announced that 33-year-old Little Joe would be transferred to another accredited zoo as part of a global species conservation effort to help the species survive.

While officials hope that Little Joe will start a family at the Pittsburgh zoo, Franklin Park Zoo said 7-year-old Frankie will join a “bachelor group” of adolescent gorillas, a social formation common in the wild.

“The Pittsburgh Zoo is saying goodbye to Frankie, a 7-year-old male western lowland gorilla... and welcoming 33-year-old silverback Little Joe,” Katie Logue, a spokesperson for Franklin Park Zoo, said in an email on Thursday.

Logue did not share details about when Little Joe will leave for his new home.

Franklin Park Zoo said it will also receive an 8-year-old male gorilla named Moke from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC, later this year.

Both new gorillas will arrive after Little Joe’s departure, officials said.

Little Joe’s upcoming transfer to Pittsburgh was recommended by the American Zoological Association, which determined he would be a good candidate to start a family there and help preserve his species, which is critically endangered in the wild.