Melbournes betsy, the 50yo gorrllia passed away tuesday. Melbourne Zoo grieves for 50 yo gorilla : thewest.com.au
I'm sorry to hear this but she had a long and successful life, during which I visited her three times. I have a photo in front of me of her silverback son 'Buzandi' in Germany, he looks amazingly similar to his mother ...
Thanks Pertinax for letting me know about this site....I was wondering why there were no posts about this. Yes, Buzandi does look a lot like her. Often this winter she's been in the night den and the shutters have been open so members of the public can view....I think she generally had the option to come out if she felt like it. She hasn't been well and I noticed on Sunday she was in her night quarters and all the shutters were drawn so she must have been feeling really down. She was quite a girl.....conceiving at and an inconceivable age.....and making it to 50! And she was great with Yakini, Ganyeka and Jumatano....but the boys loved her most (and used to fight each other for a piggy back). Some people thought she was nuts because she screamed so much......she'd set the rest of the group off. I feel really sad. Rigo and Yuska are close in age and nearing 40. I don't look forward to them going....Rigo's pretty fit though. Hopefully, they'll both get to 50+ as well.
I remember Betsy and Buluman coming to Australia as babies when I was about 10 or 11 years old. It was a big deal. They had been brought in from U.S. I think, and lived at Taronga for some years. A "specialist" keeper arrived from Chester zoo in U.K. to look after them, a guy called Bill Timmins or Timmis. After working at Taronga for a few years he returned to the U.K. to be manager of Harewood Bird Gardens. Betsy and Buluman lived in an old "menagerie" style cage (concrete walls, concrete floor, barred front.) When Taronga gave its gorillas to Melbourne zoo they were much missed by people like me, but it was felt quite rightly that it was in the animals' best interests to form a larger, natural group in one zoo rather than keep a couple here and a couple there. Melbourne was the best place, having proper accommodation. Since then, I've seen her occasionally through the years. Now she's gone.
It was Timmis. He was(or later became) Chester's main animal Curator for quite a long time. I guess he went on to Harewood after that.
Thanks for confirming that, Pertinax. I had to dredge the guy's name out of my memory from about 40 or 50 years ago.(Alzheimer's hasn't got me yet, thank God!) Taronga's first gorilla (in fact Australia's first gorilla) who arrived in the mid 1950s at the age of five was spectacularly mis-named King Kong. The public came along to see a ravening monster and what they got was a mild tempered, gentlemanly gorilla who had better manners than most of them! That's when the more perceptive of us realised what wonderful animals gorillas are.
If I close my eyes I can still vaguely remember what he looked like. I didn't know him- just saw him around Chester a few times. Taronga gorillas- were there four or six originally? I saw where they lived when the Orangutans were still using it, it was terrible.....
Betsy was something of a character and a longevity champion of sorts AND a successful mother at an unlikely age. RIP.
Taronga's gorillas: King Kong, arrived early 1959 (approx. 5 years old.) George and Mary arrived August 1960 (babies.) Buluman and Betsy (who was originally called Annabelle) arrived October 1961 (also babies). Another two babies (whose names I don't know) arrived a few years after, which means that in 1963 or 1964 Taronga had 7 gorillas, at that time the largest group at any zoo in the world. The trouble was, they weren't a group. They were housed separately to each other in pairs. Most didn't live all that long, not by today's expectations. By 1980, Buluman and Betsy were the only ones still alive, and were sent to Melbourne.
According to the 'Gorillas Galore' website they were; King Kong- died 1968 George (Kong) - died 1977 Mary(Kong)- died 1974 Little John- died 1972 Anabella(Betsy?)- died 1977(?)- but not if she was Betsy Buluman- died at Melbourne. Wild One (female) - died 1961. If as you said Anabella was Betsy then she didn't die in 1977. This site is very informative but I've found innaccuracies sometimes before. So that's 7 (4.3) Gorillas through Sydney in the old days...
Thanks Pertinax. It's a bit of a puzzle, alright. I may be wrong. I'm working off memory and scribbled notes I made as an (enthusiastic but not necessarily accurate) kid. But if, as the "Gorillas Galore" website suggests, they all died in the 60s and 70s except Buluman, where did Betsy come in? Maybe someone else knows? If so, please tell us.........
On that site, Little John, 'Annabella' and Buluman have consecutive s/b numbers 0125,0126, 0127, indicating they arrived together(or close together) I always thought that Buluman and Betsy came to Taronga together and I think, as you remember it, that Annabella is/was Betsy and didn't die in 1977. I have previously found a number of errors on 'Gorillas Galore', specially animals listed wildborn when captive bred, and vice versa, so I think this is another error..
i have an old book that suggests that taronga park had "many gorillas, even some of the rare mountain gorilla race at one stage".....anyone?
That's interesting, but I doubt it. They all looked like western lowlands to me. I'm sure Taronga would have trumpeted it about if any were mountain gorillas. All had been bought young from an American dealer (Zeehandelaar?) and had probably been obtained by the time-honoured method of massacring the rest of the troop. So much for the "good old days". I have a book (published 1978) which shows a photo of Betsy getting an ulcer dressed on the sole of her foot. She is reclining in what looks like a lounge chair, and the caption explains that "she has been given a mild tranquilliser, which removes the necessity for any physical restraint." She is about 20 years old in the photo.
I doubt it.... a lot of zoos in the old days described their gorillas as 'mountain gorillas' for whatever reason. Actually both Eastern races/species, the 'true' Mountain (beringei) and Eastern Lowland (graueri) have been very few and far between in captivity. Particularly 'true' mountain gorillas- only ever about 4 examples- in 3 zoos, that I know of...
Nope- San Diego had Eastern Lowlands- two males M'Bongo and N'gagi- in the 1930's. Eastern Lowlands have also been exhibited at; Bronx NY, Antwerp(the only zoo to breed one) Chester, Oklahoma & Houston (the same animal, Mkubwa) Hanover and possibly a few others too which weren't recognised for what they were.. True Mountain Gorilla(Berengei) I know of only four examples; 'Miss Congo' at the Bronx(I think) in c.1920's 'Reuben' (male) London Zoo early 1960's(soon died) 'Coco & Pucker- (females) at Cologne, Germany- late 1960's, lived about 10 years. Anyone know any others?
coco and pucker were the two raised by dianne fossey. poor little things. dianne fossey always felt crap about being forced into sending them to the zoo, and for good reason in hindsight.
