Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) Fact Sheet: Managed Care

• In 1855, a traveling menagerie exhibited the first gorilla outside of Africa as a chimpanzee
• The Berlin Aquarium briefly exhibited a single gorilla in 1876 and again in 1883
• The first gorilla in North America was an infant male that died after 5 days in Boston in 1897
• The first zoo to exhibit a gorilla was the Bronx Zoo, importing animals in 1911 and 1914.  But in 1915 William Hornaday, the zoo director, wrote, "There is not the slightest reason to hope that an adult gorilla ever will be seen living in a zoological park or garden."
• Female gorilla Koko has been taught American Sign Language at the Gorilla Foundation.  She can understand ~2000 words and can make ~1,000 ASL signs.

Wharton, (2002)