Samson (1)

Gorilla, wild-born December 1963. Old Gorilla House, Bristol, 18th September 1972.
Samson sired Daniel, the first gorilla born and raised in England. He sired many infants, by several females, but Salome, at Bristol is the only one who has surviving offspring.
Scanned from a High Speed Ektachrome transparency.

How fantastic to see photos of Samson. Thank you for uploading them, Alan. Having been lucky enough to have seen a couple of his offspring, it is lovely to see what he looked like.

gentle lemur said:

Gorilla, wild-born December 1963. Old Gorilla House, Bristol, 18th September 1972.
Samson sired Daniel, the first gorilla born and raised in England. He sired many infants, by several females, but Salome, at Bristol is the only one who has surviving offspring.

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Not quite... His daughter Naomi who died at Belfast also has one surviving offspring- 'Nasibu' who went to Kolmarden in Sweden and recently, aged twelve, was sent to Lisbon Zoo. Nasibu is the only joint descendant of Samson x Delilah and if he does breed would save that genetic line.

Pertinax said:

Not quite... His daughter Naomi who died at Belfast also has one surviving offspring- 'Nasibu' who went to Kolmarden in Sweden and recently, aged twelve, was sent to Lisbon Zoo. Nasibu is the only joint descendant of Samson x Delilah and if he does breed would save that genetic line.

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Yes, I was quite wrong to ignore Nasibu. I had written him off as a breeder, which is completely unjustified - I would be delighted if he continues the line.
Incidentally, I see that Samson had over 20 offspring (I think by 6 different females); I know that many died very young, but it is quite dreadful that he has so few descendents alive today.

Alan

somehow 'Nasibu' survived infancy unlike so many of the other Bristol-related babies.(Naomi and Delilah's other babies at Belfast all died)
He is Delilah's only living descendant and is now 12 and bears a distinct resemblence to 'Daniel'

He could possibly already be a father at kolmarden as the baby born there has not been DNA tested to prove its paternity (and the female is curently pregnant- again paternity could be either male) I'm pleased he's now gone to Lisbon and a real chance to head a group and possibly further the S & D line.

Samson's only other relatives are salome & komale plus a male in Japan(a son by Susie). providing Komale grows up safely he will be an important young male for the future..

Just noticed this is the old 'Spanish' grille cagefront so he's still in the first house. The sections that made up this cage front were recycled and still form an overhead archway alongside the enclosure near the pudu.

Belle Vue later copied this style of bars for the inside cages of their Ape House too.

Pertinax said:

Just noticed this is the old 'Spanish' grille cagefront so he's still in the first house.

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I should have pointed this out. I didn't know that grille had been recycled after the house was demolished. It looked rather strange and it was just as intrusive as bars would have been. I guess that it would not have held an infant, and I certainly never saw any of the young apes in that cage. I wonder if that hastened (rushed) the design and construction of the new ape house in 1975.

Alan

gentle lemur said:

I guess that it would not have held an infant, and I certainly never saw any of the young apes in that cage. I wonder if that hastened (rushed) the design and construction of the new ape house in 1975.

Alan

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Daniel and possibly Rebecca(who died) were born in that house and I never saw them in the outside area. Adult Gorillas could almost put their heads out through the gaps- Congo would do this, I don't know if Samson did.