Bobby--Berlin Zoo

1928 with author Paul Eippers

But numerous eyewitnesses, Bobby studied, described and made famous. The most famous among them, the popular author Paul Eipper, has the most spectacular of all held in Germany zoo gorillas immortalized twice, the first time in 1928 in the book club bestseller "animals look at you" and again in more detail in 1934 In his book "The animal lover travels":

"Spread through the Zoofachwelt suddenly an interesting rumor: in Marseille, it was said, a small middlemen got a male gorilla, and as the animal dealer Hermann was away resting in Eros de Cagnes only a few hours from Marseille, he met the first one , was actually in a wooden shed next to monkeys and other small monkeys - "Bobby," buy the baby gorilla Generally animal dealer gorillas do not like, they had previously made ​​almost always a bad experience and felt that this kind of apes if we survive. was. But what was told peace in Marseilles, was extraordinary and very appealing. The gorilla said to have been taken on board as an infant, have spent three years as an equal family member of an African farmer and was there so malnourished been possible also here in Germany is. Bobby got milk rice, applesauce, bananas, white bread and crackers, and it could be boiled and fried meat, prized jam and sweet tea. "



1935


Bobby gained fame as the first gorilla at the Berlin Zoo. Feed basically a human diet he died at the age of 9, in 1935 from appendicitis. Compare that to Frankfurt Zoo's Matze(1957-2008) who died at the age of 51, to appreciate zoological advancement in learning. In photo's of Bobby, his structure has always looked "dwarfy" to me. I always assumed it was due to the horrid diet that he was raised on. But the results of his necropsy point to an other issue: 'The autopsy revealed that the pituitary gland - an important gland in the brain - was underdeveloped. This was also the reason why he was, despite his ten years of life never fully grown.'