Columbus Zoo's Lulu dead at age 46

Above Pattycake and LuLu in 1972 and LuLu below in 1972.


On a sad, sad note Lulu, the mother of Central Parks Pattycake who was the first gorilla born in New York City in 1972, died at at the age of 46 at the Columbus Zoo on Jan. 24, 2011. Lulu had been living at the Columbus Zoo since 1984, and was captured in Africa in 1966. I made a special trip to the zoo in 1985 to see her. Folks who have been to the Columbus Zoo will remember Lulu well, as she used to stick her tongue out. Not in the mean human way, but more in a "pondering/thought provoking way", much like Albert Einstein. While living in Columbus, she gave birth to three female offspring between 1987 and 1991. One was Binti Jua, who became famous in 1996 at the Brookfield Zoo when she rescued a toddler who had fallen into the gorilla habitat. What a valuable, valuable animal Lulu proved herself to be.