Life
Her mother rejected her at birth, and she was hand-raised by the zookeepers like a human child, dressed in clothing and fed from a bottle. When she was two she was introduced to Bongo, a 19 month old male from Africa, and on February 1, 1968, their first of three offspring was born, a female named Emmy, named by the zoo after the mayor of Columbus, M. E. "Jack" Sensenbrenner. The following two offspring were similarly named after awards; Oscar, born July 18, 1969, and Toni, on December 28, 1971.
On April 25, 1979, Columbus Zoo had its first third generation birth. The infant was named Cora, short for Central Ohio Rare Ape. On January 27, 1997, Colo's great-grandson Jontu was born. A birth at the Henry Doorly Zoo made Colo a great-great-grandmother in 2003.
Although Colo did not raise any of her own offspring, she reared her twin grandsons, Macombo II and Mosuba, from birth. Colo also acted as a guardian for her grandson, named J.J. after "Jungle" Jack Hanna with whom he shares a birthday. Since that time, there have been 12 gorilla offspring in the Columbus Zoo surrogacy program.
Colo has resided at the Columbus Zoo longer than any other animal in the zoo's collection. Colo celebrated her 50th birthday in 2006 with her keeper Gregory Moore with a chimps tea party. Colo and her progeny, four of which still reside at the Columbus Zoo, comprised almost one-third of Columbus Zoo's current gorilla collection as of 2007.
Colo is the oldest living gorilla in captivity, following the death of 55 year old Jenny in September 2008.
Read more about this topic: Colo (gorilla)
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“We quaff the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the brim—objects press around us, filling the mind with their magnitude and with the throng of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“When Learning’s Triumph o’er her barb’rous Foes
First rear’d the Stage, immortal Shakespear rose;
Each Change of many-colour’d Life he drew,
Exhausted Worlds, and then imagin’d new:”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“What should we think of the shepherd’s life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)