Jambo the gorilla at Jersey Zoo, 3 August 1992

you took this photo just over a month before he died.

Yes, I know. I feel very honoured to have been able to see him before his untimely death

I was at Bristol zoo the day that young female Nadia died.

I went to Chessington one day and saw the female Lomie- I heard later she died the next day..

I saw Kijo at Howletts last October- he was dead two months later.

I saw Joe and SamSam at Twycross last June- they were both dead within a couple of months.

Is it me....?

No, it isn't you ...

... as you pointed out, I saw Jambo at Jersey Zoo on 3 August 1992 and he died on 16 September 1992.

I was at Bristol Zoo on 26 June 1994 - Nadia died on 5 July 1994, Daniel died on 22 August 1994 and Jason died on 9 December 1994.

I was at Blackpool Zoo on 7 September 2002 - Kukee died on 7 January 2003.

So, there have been several occasions where I have seen gorillas and they have died within 6 months as well (though, thankfully, not recently)

I so enjoyed seeing the gorillas at Bristol and Paignton again last weekend, and I will be visiting Port Lympne on 16 May (as a freebie from the John Aspinall Foundation), so gorillas are back on my radar this year

mhale said:

So, there have been several occasions where I have seen gorillas and they have died within 6 months as well (though, thankfully, not recently) :

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virtually all those Gorillas I mentioned above looked fit and healthy when I saw them for the last time. They often seem to die very suddenly without visible illness.

Seems odd that three gorillas died at Bristol within a short time (unless I've misread it again!).

Jacobea said:

Seems odd that three gorillas died at Bristol within a short time (unless I've misread it again!).

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No, you didn't misread it. But the three deaths weren't connected.
'Nadia' was a two and half year old baby. She had some sort of virus.
'Daniel' (Nadia's father)was 23 and in his prime- he collapsed from some sort of brain haemorrhage.
'Jason' was an older silverback(originally Chester's) I think he died from Pneumonia.

Another odd occurrence- I once photographed the female 'Salome' at London Zoo (she is now at Bristol) an the next day she had a stillbirth-I think they were unaware she was pregnant that time. That was before the birth of her first live baby.

Pertinax said:

virtually all those Gorillas I mentioned above looked fit and healthy when I saw them for the last time. They often seem to die very suddenly without visible illness.

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A lot of animals will try and hide their illness or injuries right up until they drop dead.

Looking at pictures of jerseys gorillas, they seem like huge gorillas. What type were they? western lowland?

As far as am aware there is only two specimens in Europe that are not Western Lowland gorilla's.