Gerald Durrell with young N'Pongo the gorilla at Jersey Zoo, 1959

This picture of Gerald Durrell with a young N'Pongo was included in one of his books.

N'Pongo was originally thought to be a male, and their 2nd gorilla 'Nandi' was obtained as a mate for 'him'.

N'Pongo was very humanised and when she grew up she was hostile toward the male 'Jambo' but fortunately would still mate with him when she was in oestrus- but they couldn't be kept together outside of those times in their early life together. Though they mellowed over time they were never kept together in the smaller indoor accomodation where Jambo was kept with the other female Nandi -who adored him.

As an adult, N'Pongo had a very distinctive rather fierce 'look' which has been inherited by her children and some of their descendants too- Mamfe, Tatu, Ngola, Kumba, Hallali Kahilli( her daughter at Jersey) and even her granddaughter Asili at Chessington.

i remember, during a durrell read-a-thon one summer, finishing one book in which N'pongo was always referred to as "him" only to pick up another where N'pongo had suddenly been one of the zoos female gorillas. i was quite baffled. and durrell never seemed to offer any sort of explanation!

By no means unique: Achilla at Basel, Jambo's mother, was originally called Achilles.

Alan

actually when i first saw this photo i thought she looked rather like an eastern gorilla. to me eastern gorillas have a somewhat sharper more almost and i suppose "fiercer" look about them. i wonder if its the same nuance we are thinking of.

N'Pongo died when I was in Jersey in 1999. I only saw her fleetingly.