by Jane Dewar
Colo -
female gorilla - born 22Dec56 to Millie and Baron Macombo
(mom/dad). Colo is the first gorilla born in captivity
and she’s still living where she was born, in
Columbus, Ohio, where she and her ever-expanding family
live.
This photo was taken by our friends, Tom and Jan Parkes, in July 1995
Binti Jua & her
daughter, Koola
- Binti was born 17Mar88 in Columbus, Ohio to Lulu and
Sunshine. After being hand-reared, Binti was finally
introduced to other gorillas at Brookfield Zoo in
Chicago. There, she kept to herself a lot, since it was
difficult getting into the "clique" of Alpha
and her daughters, Babs and Aquilina who were there at
the time. Even so, Binti eventually met the old
silverback, Abe, and had his only offspring, Koola, born
21Feb95. In the summer of 1996 when a little boy fell
into the gorilla exhibit, Binti carefully cradled the boy
and brought him to the keeper’s door, where she left
him so he could be rescued. Binti became world-famous,
and she deserves her celebrity, since - like Jambo
before her - she helped more people see just how gentle,
intelligent and remarkable gorillas really are!
This photo was taken by our friends, Jan and Tom Parkes, and sent as our Christmas card for 1997.
Jambo - silverback
gorilla. Jambo is famous for several reasons. He was born
17Apr61 in Basle, Switzerland and was the first baby
gorilla in captivity to be raised by his own mother,
Achilla (his father was Stephi). Jambo went to the
Channel Island of Jersey, where he was a wonderful
silverback and father to many offspring, who now reside
in zoos virtually all over the world. Before the world
knew Binti Jua, Jambo took care of another little boy who
fell into his enclosure in the mid 1980’s.
Home-video of the huge silverback gently stroking the
unconscious little boy’s back were some of the first
to show the masses how gentle gorillas really are. Sadly,
Jambo died in 1992 and his keeper and best friend,
Richard Johnstone-Scott, wrote a wonderfully moving book
about his time with this superb silverback.
Instead of a photo, I’ve chosen a copy of a drawing Richard made of his beloved Jambo, which was on a personal letter to us in 1995
Koko -
female gorilla - Koko is the world-famous
"talking" gorilla, who speaks ASL - the
sign language of the deaf. Recently she held a live
conversation on AOL, using her human companions as
translators. We were privileged to meet Koko in 1989,
where Jane signed to her "I love gorillas"
and Koko immediately signed back "Love gorillas
YOU!" which we captured on video tape. Binti Jua
is Koko’s niece!
This photo was taken by Jane Dewar in August 1989
Ivan in Tacoma,
WA- silverback gorilla - born in Africa in 1964. Ivan
is the famous "shopping mall gorilla" who spent
most of his life alone in a shopping mall, without ever
seeing another gorilla, until he came to Zoo Atlanta in
the fall of 1994. When I took this photo, Ivan was just
about to go into quarantine for his trip to Atlanta, and
he was in a lot of pain from some dental problems. Even
so, Ivan "painted" us a picture and was a very
gracious, gorilla’s gorilla.
Ivan in Atlanta
- A year later, I saw Ivan who had been sitting behind
the rocks, ignoring the public, but came out to get a
closer look when I purred and rumbled at him. Did he
remember me?? Who knows? On subsequent visits to see Ivan
in Atlanta, he usually will stroll out for a look-see, so
I’d like to think he at least recognizes me as a
friend of gorillas. Ivan is in with 2 female gorillas and
in the spring of 1998 he had his first sexual experience,
so maybe he’ll become a super dad like Willie B!
Left-hand photo was
taken by Jane Dewar behind-the-scenes at his home in
Tacoma, Washington in July 1994
Right-hand
photo: Jane Dewar took this photo of Ivan at his new
outdoor habitat at Zoo Atlanta in June of 1995.
Snowflake -
silverback WHITE gorilla - born in Africa in 1962 and now
living in Barcelona, Spain. Also known as Copito de Nieve and Floquet de Neu, Snowflake is
not an albino (or is he? See update below!). Although he has white hair, his eyes are
blue, not pink. These photos were taken soon after one of
his females had died, so his favorite female, Ndengue
stayed nearby. Like many fair-skinned, blue eyed humans,
Snowflake squints a lot in the bright sunlight and often
people think he is grimacing or angry, which he is not.
In fact, we were pleased to see how "normal" he
behaved during our visit with him. Snowflake acted like a
real gorilla’s gorilla and he’s sired over 20
babies, who have all turned out to be regular dark haired
gorillas. Although most of his offspring did not survive,
one now lives in Japan. Only one other white gorilla has
been reported - seen in the wild as a baby with his/her
mother, but s/he soon disappeared and was presumed dead.
Photos by Steuart Dewar, taken in October of 1996.
Update, 19-aug-2001
On July 31st, Ione Smith emailed to say:
On one of your gorilla haven pages, you state: "Snowflake - silverback WHITE gorilla - born in Africa in 1962 and now living in Barcelona, Spain. Also known as Copito de Nieve and Floquet de Neu, Snowflake is not an albino. Although he has white hair, his eyes are blue, not pink."
Actually, MANY albinos have blue eyes. It is an old wive's tale that albinos must have pink eyes. Blue-eyed albinos are discussed by both the International Albinism Center and the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, on their web sites.
http://www.cbc.umn.edu/iac/facts.htm
http://www.albinism.org/
So I wrote to my friends in Barcelona and got this reply, emailed on August 5th:
Hello Jane,
I am one of the veterinarians from Barcelona Zoo and have taken care of his health for the last 9 years. I got a message regarding albinism in snow fale (or "Copito de Nieve" as we say) from the Primate curator of BZ (Tereas Abello). There was a presentation in the American Association of Veterinary Dermatologist few years ago titled "Albinism in a Gorilla" by Ferrer, Fernandez, Castellels and Fernandez...if you want we can send you a reprint (it is a short communication). We conclude in that paper that snowflake is affected by a oculocutaneous albinism that could be equivalent to Type I-B or yellow albinism in human beings. This seems to be associated with reduced but sufficient levels of residual tyorinase activity to produce small amounts of pigment. His skin is totally white and the membranes are pale pink. hairs are also whiten although in some areas (head and shoulders) they were light yellow creamy. Iris is blue to gray and small amounts of pigment were found in the iridial stroma and in the retina. Pigment was absent in the posterior epithelium and the iris was fully translucent on globe transllumination. I hope this information is useful for your
considerings, Regards,
Jesus Fernandez Moran
Servicio Veterinario
Parque Zoologico de Barcelona, España
Chicory -
silverback gorilla - born 13May85 in New Orleans to mom
Fanya and dad BomBom. Chicory came to Brookfield Zoo in
Chicago as a youngster where he and Ndume
became best buddies during the time I watched them
(in the late 1980’s). . Chicory is famous since he
had a brain tumor which human specialists operated on
successfully in 1994. For some reason when I took this
photo, Chicory was housed alone while the other gorillas
were in the main exhibit. There was a 4 inch ledge where
he could climb and hold onto to get a better view of
people or things that interested him - it wasn’t
very comfortable, so he couldn’t stay there for
long. He hadn’t seen me for a while (and I’ve
known him since he was about 3 years old) and he climbed
up to sit on the tiny ledge. He’s looking at me
almost like he’s asking where I’ve been and
"asking" if I know when he is going to be let
back in with his group! Sadly Chicory died unexpectedly
and inexplicably August 22, 1998 at the age of 13 years.
I will confess I am still easily brought to tears
thinking about the loss of the potential this wonderful
individual had, but I smile when I think of watching him
grow from a toddler to a magnificent silverback..
Photo taken by Jane Dewar at Brookfield in May 1996. My niece, Jenny Dewar, got a close-up visit too!