Gorilla outdoor enclosure 1973

Scanned from a Kodachrome slide. This gorilla enclosure originally had a moat, but the silverback Abraham died after falling into it, so it was replaced by a barrier made of panes of armoured glass: through which this photo was taken. The silverback is Matze. Ape House, Frankfurt, 30th August 1973.

The first time I went to Frankfurt was after the accident with Abraham. The (less valuable) Chimps were living in here and the Gorillas were in the Chimp cages at the other end. There was another male- Solomon- in between Abraham and Matz too but he did not live long enough to become a silverback, though he fathered a daughter(Salome) with Makulla, who I think is bottom left in this photo. That first time I saw Matz he was newly arrived and shuffled around in a crouched position, having lived all his life in a circus beast wagon in the USA. Proper exercise soon improved that though. He turned out very successful and ultimately rather genetically over-represented too.

Another great shot btw.

Pertinax said:

Another great shot btw.

Click to expand...

It's actually a dreadful photo - but worth posting because this was the top of the range for gorilla accommodation in the early '70s. It reminds me how unconventional, eccentric and almost revolutionary John Aspinall's ideas seemed then - although he was the least revolutionary of men in most other ways.

Alan

gentle lemur said:

It's actually a dreadful photo - but worth posting because this was the top of the range for gorilla accommodation in the early '70s. It reminds me how unconventional, eccentric and almost revolutionary John Aspinall's ideas seemed then - although he was the least revolutionary of men in most other ways.

Alan

Click to expand...

Looks pretty good to me though I appreciate your critical eye. Historically its a good one. I made a similar comment about 'top of the range'for its time over the other photo.

JA started by building that original basic run of cages- pretty cramped and dingy they were too(and still are) though the deep litter approach was novel, but he started extending his ideas more with the Gorillariums. IMO his eccentricity was best exemplified by that first bachelor Gorilla house at Port Lympne.

The gorillas have the exhibit not often used, they were rather in the indoor enclosure, especially in summer when the heat was to much in the outdoor exhibit, so it was uncomfortable for the animals to be outside.

By the way-also three chimps drowned in the moat-a mother with her daughter nd her new baby. Abraham wanted to take a bath in it in winter, so he died from a heart failure....