Name of albino gorilla1/20/2024 In an attempt to explain Snowflake’s color-free complexion, Spanish researchers sequenced the gorilla’s entire genome. As the only know white gorilla in the world, Snowflake was a zoo celebrity until his death of skin cancer in 2003. The young albino gorilla was eventually transported to the Barcelona Zoo where he resided for the next 38 years. was by purchased by a man who worked for the Barcelona Zoo’s Ikunde Center, in Spanish Guinea. The small creature was found clinging to his mother’s neck, his head buried deep in her black fur. During the massacre, his mother was shot. He was captured by who had killed the rest of his group (all charcoal black in color) in order to obtain this unusual albino specimen. He was born in the wild and captured in 1966 by villagers in Equatorial Guinea: Snowflake was a male western lowland gorilla. Second, to turn Snowflake into a circus sideshow, was indeed unfortunate. First, I hate zoos and rarely visit them. What is known for sure, however, is that six years after Snowflake’s death the zoo was refurbished, and where the tree should have sprouted from the gorilla’s remains, there is now a garden where red kangaroos jump.Įnglish version by Albert Cadanet and Marc Corominas.In retrospect, my whole Barcelona Zoo experience was a downer. According to an urban legend a lawnmower cut the stem that grew from the buried seeds. The remains that no one else wanted were burned and inserted into a biodegradable vase, mixed with the seeds of a typical African tree. But none of these remains can be accessed, given that these institutions all signed confidentiality agreements. A mold of the gorilla’s head, hands, feet and chest was taken in order to design a hyper-realistic sculpture, but it is yet to be created. The Pompeu Fabra University holds tissue and DNA, while Barcelona University has skin samples and the Natural History Museum of Barcelona has part of his skeleton and some skin. The Dexeus University Insitute was given the gorilla’s reproductive system, including his sperm. The Animal Tissue Bank of Catalonia kept fluid, tissue and brain samples. Snowflake’s remains were donated to universities, high schools and research centers. Snowflake’s remains were donated to universities, high schools and research centers On Octohis agony was irreversible, so the following day a lethal injection ended with its life painlessly. Teresa Abelló, who has been working with the primates in Barcelona Zoo since 1985, says: “I was concerned about all the gorillas, but little Snowflake was so special, we only had eyes for him.” The biologist adds that the gorilla was “a model grandparent, he played and took care of his grandchildren and was a charming animal.” She remembers how he moved and how they treated a wound he had in his armpit. But in the end, the animal was incinerated in order to preserve “his dignity.” He thought that he would continue attracting visitors even after his death. Sabater Pi argued that the unique gorilla should be stuffed, in order to preserve him. “It is not a case of years or months, it will be weeks,” he said. In September 2003, second deputy mayor and president of Barcelona zoo, Jordi Portabella, announced that “Little Snowflake” was going to pass away. Twelve months on, and Snowflake appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine, becoming in the process one of the most famous symbols of Barcelona. A month later, the gorilla arrived in Barcelona and the then-mayor, José María de Porcioles, was there waiting for his arrival. One of those hunters sold this unusual animal to Sabater Pi. It was aged between two and three years old. Behind one of the females an albino baby appeared. The story of Snowflake dates back to October 1, 1966, when a group of hunters from Equatorial Guinea killed a family of gorillas. What’s more, the team in charge of naming Barcelona’s streets has said that it has not received an application to put the albino gorilla’s name on an official plaque. But that project didn’t catch on either.īarcelona City Hall claims that administrative reasons preclude it from naming a street after Snowflake. Trias wanted to pay indirect tribute to Floquet de Neu, as the gorilla was known in Catalan. Years later, Mayor Xavier Trias suggested building a path in Ciutadella park, where the zoo is located, and naming it after Jordi Sabater Pi (1922-2009), the primatologist who bought Snowflake from a hunter and brought him to Barcelona.
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