Adult male eastern lowland gorilla (graueri), undoubtedly the handsomest gorilla I have ever seen. Tropical House Island (now part of red river hog enclosure), 5th August 1974.
Ektachrome transparency, scanned to PhotoCd and corrected.
OK, as I was 'close' with the nose, I've cheated/done some research/educated myself and Western gorillas are described as having an overhang at the tip of their nose.
Correct. The top of the septum dividing the nostrils has a kink or notch in Westerns, which is not present in Easterns( any species). As this photo of Mukisi shows, Easterns have smoother, less wrinkled noses and upper lips also, but that's more of a generalisation.
Hence my clue above
Actually I did think of adding the neatness of their noses as another attractive feature of eastern gorillas - which would have spoiled Pertinax's fun.
Alfred Brehm? Paul Matschie? Carl Akeley? Charles Cordier?
Incidentally, did you know that 'Noelle' and 'Mukisi' feature in George Schaller's classic The Year of the Gorilla. He met them when he visited Cordier who had caught them (supposedly by a humane method, rather than slaughtering the adults in the group).
