Breeding
During his life at the zoo, he fathered 22 offspring (of whom six survived to adulthood) with three females and lived to see his grandchildren. None of his offspring were albino. His last son, Urko, died in August 2003. At first, the Barcelona Zoo was not aware just how unique of a specimen Snowflake was. They sent a message to Sabater Pi saying, "Please send more white gorillas." The zoo later hoped to produce an entire family group of white gorillas through selective breeding.
He was thought to be between 38 and 40 years old; the average lifespan of a gorilla in the wild is 25. Since 2001, he had suffered from an unusual form of skin cancer, almost certainly related to his albinism condition, known as oculocutaneous albinism type 1 or OCA1. In September 2003, it was publicly announced that he was dying. Thousands visited the zoo to say goodbye before he was euthanized in November 2003.
Read more about this topic: Snowflake (gorilla)
Famous quotes containing the word breeding:
“The Fashionable World is grown free and easie; our Manners sit more loose upon us: Nothing is so modish as an agreeable Negligence. In a word, Good Breeding shows it self most, where to an ordinary Eye it appears the least.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“A man’s own good breeding is his best security against other people’s ill-manners.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The surest route to breeding jealousy is to compare. Since jealousy comes from feeling “less than” another, comparisons only fan the fires.”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)