Gorillas in Our Midst
The Story of the Columbus Zoo Gorillas
Jeff Lyttle
Foreword by Jack Hanna
“The most notable lowland gorilla family in the
world had its beginnings at the Columbus Zoo. On the morning of December
22, 1956, the zoo received an early Christmas present. A baby gorilla was
born, and what a momentous occasion it was! After all, this was the first
gorilla born in captivity in a zoo, an animal park or any other facility
throughout the world. . . . Throughout this book, you'll learn a lot about
these magnificent animals and why we must do all we can to save them and
their natural habitats. And, of paramount importance to the success of
the gorillas, you will understand what a critical role the zookeepers have
played, because they, in a special way, are also members of the gorillas’
families.” —Jack Hanna, Director Emeritus, Columbus Zoo
Just as gorillas have a special allure for zoo
visitors around the world, the Columbus, Ohio, zoo has a special place
in the history of the care and captive breeding of the greatest of the
great apes. Columbus was the site of the world's first captive gorilla
birth in 1956, and in the more than four decades that have passed since
that historic day, twenty-six more gorillas have been born into the Columbus
Zoo gorilla family.
Gorillas
in Our Midst chronicles the characters and events that have made the
Columbus gorilla program world renowned. From the brutal capture of the
zoo’s first gorillas in the rain forests of Africa to the birth and mother-rearing
of a fourth generation of offspring, author Jeff Lyttle takes the reader
through the triumphs and tragedies of a captive gorilla program that is
on the leading edge of the effort to preserve the endangered western lowland
gorilla.
Among the fascinating events Lyttle narrates are
the birth of Colo, the world’s first captive-born gorilla, now the mother
of three, the grandmother of fifteen, and the great-grandmother of two
gorillas, and still going strong at the age of forty. He also tells the
story of the first gorilla twins born in the Western Hemisphere—Macombo
and Mosuba—as they grow from playful infants to important members of gorilla
troops at two American zoos.
Jeff Lyttle interviewed more than twenty current
and former members of the Columbus Zoo staff to recount the details of
this compelling story. A graduate of The Ohio State University, Lyttle
has worked as a professional writer and corporate communicator for more
than twelve years.
©
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
