Massa (gorilla, 1930-1984)
Massa (* 1930 in Ghana ; † December 30, 1984 in Philadelphia ) was considered the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of his death .
First years
Massa's mother was shot dead in West Africa for meat; the poachers raised the young animal until they could sell it to a seafarer. The monkey and Captain Phillips arrived in the USA on a cargo ship in 1931. He then lived for a few years with Gertrude Lintz , who cured him of pneumonia, nursed him and a few years later, on December 30, 1935, sold it to the Philadelphia Zoo for 6,000 dollars . The young gorilla attacked its owner after she accidentally splashed him with water. Lintz had mistaken Massa for a female and taught him household chores. The accident happened when Massa was cleaning the kitchen floor and Lintz, who had approached the monkey unnoticed from behind, slipped on the damp floor and frightened the monkey. Massa immediately attacked its owner, seriously injuring her and after this incident was no longer willing to submit to her. Lintz then kept it in a cage for a while and then sold it to the zoo.
Life in the zoo
Massa spent the rest of his life at the Philadelphia Zoo, where he became a crowd favorite. Since the ape was still believed to be a female, it was initially socialized with Bamboo, another male gorilla, but this led to violent arguments. After five days the animals were separated from one another again. According to a newspaper article that appeared on his 50th birthday, Massa from then on lived in solitary confinement. According to a letter to the editor from Roger Conant , curator at the Philadelphia Zoo, Massa lived with the mountain gorilla Gargantua for years . Barbara Ensor explains, however, that "Gargantua" was only the later name of the monkey Buddy (according to other sources Buddha), who had spent his early years at the same time as Massa in Gertrude Lintz 'household, but then not at a zoo, but at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus had been sold. So Massa may have actually spent most of his life in solitary confinement.
Bamboo, Massa's rival at the Philadelphia Zoo, lived in a neighboring cage until 1961. When he died at the age of 34, Bamboo, like Massa later, was the record holder for the age of a captive gorilla.
For a long time Massa was kept in a lattice cage with a cement floor, later behind glass. In the 1950s, he allegedly ripped off his caretaker's arm. It was only after Massa's death, in 1986, that the fate of the primates kept at the Philadelphia Zoo improved after a new house was built for them that also included an outdoor enclosure. In 1995, however, 23 monkeys fell victim to a fire in this primate house. This calamity has been judged to be the most terrible that ever happened to an American zoo. The primate house and enclosure was replaced by a new dwelling in which five western lowland gorillas lived in 2016 and which was judged to be “one of the world's finest primate”. "It's a far cry from what Massa and Bamboo experienced in the old Monkey House only a few short decades ago," wrote columnist Jerry Jonas about this facility.
Death, statue, film
When Massa was 50 years old, this was celebrated, among other things, with the production of a bronze statue of the monkey. The creator of this work of art was Eric Berg , who had made and sold a Massa sculpture as early as 1972. The bronze statue remained in the zoo.
Massa's 54th birthday was celebrated with an opulent feast for the animal. Around 500 spectators watched as the silverback ate a “cake” specially developed for him with vanilla ice cream, fruit and whipped cream. The elderly ape died shortly afterwards. However, it was not the birthday meal that was diagnosed as the cause of his death, but a stroke . An autopsy revealed severe general hardening of the arteries and a blockage of the arteries in Massa's brain that had led to his death.
Massa was buried in the Philadelphia Zoo, but not completely: the gorilla's brain was to be given to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Montefiore Hospital in New York for examination because it was to be examined for signs of Alzheimer's disease. The late monkey's heart and arteries were to be examined by scientists at the Philadelphia Zoo, where Massa had lived most of his life. Its bones were to be left to a scientist who would reconstruct the skeletons of prehistoric primates.
In 1997 the film Buddy was shot after the life of Massa and Buddy's.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Roger Conant, Gargantua's Pal , in: Life , March 18, 1940, p. 4 ( limited preview in the Google book search)
- ↑ a b c UPI, 54-Year-Old Gorilla, Oldest in Captivity, Dies in Philadelphia , in: The New York Times , January 1, 1985, p. 6 (online at www.nytimes.com )
- ↑ a b Carolyn Belardo, Massa, the oldest gorilla in captivity, celebrated his 54th ... , December 30, 1984 (online at www.upi.com )
- ^ Gertrude Lintz, Secrets of the Apes , in: Popular Mechanics , December 1942, pp. 170 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search)
- ^ A b Mark Donovan, Don't Mess with the Birthday Boy: the Oldest Gorilla in Captivity Turns 50 , March 2, 1981 at www.people.com
- ↑ Barbara Ensor, Monkey Business , June 2, 1997 in New York Magazine , p. 15 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
- ↑ a b c Jerry Jonas, These many years later, gorillas still fascinate me , April 10, 2016 at www.buckscontycouriertimes.com
- ↑ a b Massa the Gorilla on de.findagrave.com