Sunday, April 26, 2009

GORILLA #1 (From Eric Beheim)


gorilla-1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

The August 1940 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC has an article about great apes by William Mann, Director of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.



The article’s very first photo is this great head shot of Gargantua, which does not appear to have been airbrushed or otherwise enhanced by the Ringling press department.

3 comments:

Jimmy Cole said...

Nice set of photos!

I did want to comment again on the "Great Americal Royal (Animal Free) Circus". I just checked their website and it seems they have toned down their rhetoric considerably. "Animal Free" no longer appears on their logo, and they have changed the "circuses abuse animals" statement to just being "supportive of exotic animal rights".

Perhaps dog acts can now apply for a job. However they must agree to feed the dogs only a vegetarian diet!

J.C. Hall said...

40+years ago
I had gotten interested in the great apes. Morgan Berry put me in contact with a dealer in Holland and to my surprise Gorillas up to three years old were one price and the price climbed considerably for the older ones,I have the letter some where. I will post it some day when I find it.
P.S. Morgan had some baby orangutangs at the time that went for around $2,500-$3,000. Morgan also mentioned that they would swap pigs even up for them as they were thought to be more flavorful.

Lance M. Jefferson said...

Buckles,
I don't know how to comment on something other than what is posted. I had earlier read about the search in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the "elephant angel" who looked after Shiela, a baby elephant. Apparently she has been found, Denise Austin, according to this article in The Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northernireland/5058132/Identity-of-mystery-elephant-angel-revealed.html

Lance M. Jefferson
Richmond, British Columbia