The clip below, and the photo above illustrates the massive strides in knowledge San Diego Zoo has made in captive gorilla husbandry/breeding. The years of research apparently payed off when they quite trying to mate two male gorilla's(see clip) and instead came to the conclusion that unless a gorilla had, at regular intervals through the day, a jungle chorus that comes from 144 speakers, simulating the rumbles of their natural habitat in an African Rainforest, they would get about half nut's and waste their time beating their chest's and threatening folks(see photo above) and not produce offspring. LOL
Sunday, September 26, 2010
"Gorilla Tropics"--San Diego Zoo in 1971
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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8 comments:
Not the first time a zoo tried to breed two male gorillas. The story goes that Philadelphia brought Massa, thinking he was a she, as a mate for Bamboo. Also there's some thought that the San Diego gorillas were not mountian gorillas but eastern lowland gorillas. Mountain and eastern lowland are related sub-species, gorilla b. beringei and g. b. graueri (SP?). Several zoos exhibited eastern lowland gorillas as mountain gorillas. Richard Reynolds could confirm but I think the only mountain gorilla exhibited in the US was a young female on the Ringling show in the late 1930s.
Jim,
I have some questions for you if you could please contact me. Hope all is well. My father sends his regards.
Ryan Easley
Ryan,
My e-mail is moclions@aol.com. I've seen the Easley name an wondered if you were a relation. My regards to your Dad, hope all's well. Memories of conversations about the sad state of pachyderm training in zoos.
Jim Alexander
I read about these gorillas in a book I think titled "Wild In The City". I'm sure they must know whether they were Eastern Lowland gorillas. They must have the remains somewhere. There's a bust of one or both of these gorillas in the zoo. I read they had a problem with visitors throwing sods at them. The zoo was afraid they would be blinded. They also had a problem at another point in time with pygmy chimps dying mysteriously. They could'nt figure out when, but there was a ride like a monorail which went directly over their exhibit and it turned out that visitors to the zoo, on this ride, were spitting on the chimps below, causing their deaths. They had to reroute the ride to stop this. Sincerely Paul
Paul,
"Spitting" on the chimps below? I have never heard that, and would need to see a lot, lot more scientific studies that have been done, before coming to that conclusion.
Wade
Wade, I read the book years ago so I don't recall exactly what was said, but I assume that after the ride no longer went directly over the chimp exhibit they stopped dying. I remember there were two books about the San Diego Zoo. One was a history of the zoo and the other is "Wild In The City", which is a collection of articles which appeared in Zoonooz. Have you seen a book titled: "Thought To Exist In The Wild" about zoos? Sincerely Paul
Are you sure the picture above is not the gorilla exhibit at the San Diego Wild Animal Park? Sincerely Paul
Paul,
Yes, I have both of the books you mention, and "Thought to Exist in the Wild." Thought to Exist was good, but I am undecided on whether I agree with it or not.
I am currently seeking donations to buy me the three volume set "Encyclopedia of the World's Zoos", for only 650.00. Are you in? Can I count on your contribution?
Wade
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