Guy the gorilla; Natural History Museum; 8th May 2011

Guy the gorilla; Natural History Museum; 8th May 2011
09-05-2011

Guy London Zoo\'s famous gorilla who arrived at the zoo on 5th November 1947 and died 8th June 1978; now back on display in the museum.

29-10-2011

When I went he was in a seperate exhibition about 'Sex' which you had to pay to go into, so I didn't see him.

His head seems slightly small in relation to his body here. Its interesting his feet are mounted as they were in life, slightly deformed, as he walked on the sides of his feet, not the soles, due to the hard concrete floor in his old cage.

29-10-2011

It is rather ironic that ‘Guy’, who never bred, featured in a prominent position in such an exhibition; however, it provided a good opportunity to see him again as it was many years since ‘Guy’ was last on display at the museum.

29-10-2011

I suppose he was the first adult gorilla that most Britons over 40 ever saw. I still find it easier to recognise him from a photo than virtually any other wild animal.

It's interesting, too, that as late as 1978 it was deemed acceptable to have such a famous animal mounted on display after death. I think even ten years later this wouldn't have been acceptable - certainly not for a great ape.

29-10-2011

He was certainly the first Gorilla I ever saw, at that time he was the only one in the UK until Bristol Zoo got their pair mid 1950's.

I was very surprised to hear that Jersey's Jambo was also mounted after his death- though have never been able to verify this- I did hear he was either part of a display at Edinburgh museum, or behind the scenes offshow there, but again have never verified that.

03-02-2012

I totally abhor these "mountings" and taxidermy in general, to think that maybe Jambo,who is possibly the most beautiful silverback that i had the absolute priviledge to witness is stuffed somewhere in a museum makes my heart sink.

Shame on you Jersey if that is the truth.

03-02-2012

Lots of zoo animals are mounted and displayed in museums after their death, especially well-known individuals such as gorillas and giant pandas or scientifically important specimens such as quaggas and thylacines.

In addition to ‘Guy’, other mounted zoo gorillas that I’ve seen that immediately spring to mind are:-

• Lincoln Park’s ‘Bushman’ in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago
• Berlin Zoo’s ‘Bobby’ in the Museum fur Naturekunde, Berlin
• London Zoo’s ‘Mok’ in the Leeds Museum
• Bristol Zoo’s ‘Alfred’ in the Bristol Museum

and doubtless there are many other examples.

I appreciate that this is a controversial subject and understand that some object to famous zoo animals being displayed in museums after their death. Personally, I don’t believe in being sentimental about zoo animals after they’ve died and have no problems with them being displayed in museums.

I saw ‘Guy’ countless times when he was in London Zoo and was extremely sad when he died. And I always feel sad whenever I see a zoo animal in a museum that I knew in life, but that doesn’t prevent me from being objective about their remains.

Do you only object to mounted great apes or all animals?

When animals such as thylacines and quaggas died in zoos, then surely it was right preserve these specimens for posterity. It would have been an appalling waste if their bodies had been discarded after death.

03-02-2012

I am the opposite. It makes my heart sink when I hear they are rotting in the ground.

03-02-2012

As I said, I was a little surprised to hear this, given his fame, and have still not been able to verify it.

If you thought Jambo was beautiful (which he undoubtedly was) you should have seen his younger brother 'Migger' who went from Basel to La Palmyre. He was even more beautiful (and so is his son Mike, still there).

27-11-2012

Guy the gorilla is one of many specimens featured in a new display at the museum.
The new exhibition features the collection's 22 most valuable treasures.

BBC News - Treasures at the Natural History Museum

18-12-2012

I also heard this rumour and have been trying to find out it's validity ever since. I live in Jersey and over 10 years ago I was on a course in animal care at our local college. We had a famous retired vet in (can't remember his name but he was Patron for JSPCA if I remember rightly). He said that he was often called in to the Gorilla house to inspect them and that Jambo took a particular dislike to him. He spoke of him fondly but then said something about him being stuffed and the plan was to put him on display somewhere....for some reason I have a feeling he said the National History Museum or somewhere like that but it's only a vague recollection. If anyone might know of this guy...(I'd remember his name if you mentioned a few senior vets now retired)...then you might be able to find out more?

I still have strong feelings for Jambo...he was my baby who'd I'd go to meaningfully look at when a child (loved it when he was indoors and I could get up close to the glass). I have spent an evening shedding a few tears again in his memory and watching youtube vids of him. I hope someone can shed some light on this. I was upset when I first heard this rumour but then my logical mind clicks in and I feel that I wouldn't want him rotting in the ground. We have his statue to go and hug xxx

18-12-2012

Most male Gorillas don't like the Vet.. I saw one of the males at Howletts get very angry when the Vet walked past nearby.

Re Jambo- still interested to know if that is true that he was stuffed and if so, where. 'National' Museum could refer to Edinburgh (as in the National Museum of Scotland) but I suspect if he is there he may be behind the scenes. I did hear they were at on time intending to display a family group or something and don't know if any other Gorillas from Jersey ended up there.

19-12-2012

Well....I have news. Firstly, can I apologize as this thread is meant to be about Guy.....maybe if there's a more appropriate thread in this forum someone can direct me to it so I can share this info...

Chatting to a friend about this conversation she offered to make some phone calls (can't afford making the calls on my mobile from Jersey).

She phoned Durrell and was informed by a young girl that she wasn't even born when Jambo died and so she didn't know anything. She grabbed her supervisor...who also had no idea. He said he'd get someone to phone back which happened within 5 mins. This person had heard the same rumours and also had a name of someone at Edinburgh National History Museum who might know more.

We googled and hoped we'd found the right Museum and phoned them and luckily were put through to his direct line.

Andrew then explained to my friend that they do indeed have Jambo's remains. He was sold to the Edinburgh National Museum, although he said something about someone (Durrell?) wanting to bury him in Jersey but it was felt he was too 'important'.
He has not been stuffed though this was the original plan. They said Jambo was too 'Fat' and that the fatty deposits made the skin too thin and if they were to stuff him the skin would split.

So they have Jambo's skeleton and his skin preserved (assuming they mean fur as well) but as they can't put him on display he is indeed behind the scenes.

Mystery solved. I would love to share this information myself on the forum in the relevant thread as I've felt this has been an emotional and very informative journey for myself.

20-12-2012

Well done. Don't worry about diverting from the thread subject, it is related and I was the one who raised this initially.

I can't say its a very good outcome for him though.. either being stuffed('mounted') and displayed, or buried would both seem more fitting tributes for such a famous animal.

20-12-2012

Shame they don't feel able to put his skeleton on display, in that case.