Comments On: Jambo

Jambo: The Gentle Giant Discovery Channel
Jambo gained world wide fame from a minute of amateur video tape as the gentle giant. He changed many people's thought of gorillas as a savage animal. A five year old boy, Lee Van Merit (sp?), lost his balance and fell into the open air gorilla compound at Jersey's Wildlife Preservation Trust fracturing his skull and arm. As he laid unconscious the large silver-back gorilla appeared to guard him. This happened in a summer sunday of 1986. Jambo is the first male gorilla know to be born and reared by his mother in captivity.
Gorillas, by and large, before Jambo were born in the wild. Contrary to popular believe mating, giving birth and rearing their young do not come naturally to gorillas. Gorillas are a social animal. Jambo name means good morning in Swahili and because he was born in Switzerland is pronounced Yambo. At birth he weighted four pounds. At age 20 it took seven men to carry him just a few feet, when he was anesthetized, to the truck that would take him to his new accommodations in the open air compound.
The show showed him being examined which took a prolong time. They showed them cleaning his teeth which were in good shape for a 20 year old gorilla living his life in captivity. Suggesting his diet in captivity must be ideal. They took blood samples because he was a healthy animal to use to compare with gorilla blood samples when they are sick. Jambo is the finest breeding gorilla in captivity with 11 offspring. The possibility of mountain gorilla by the turn of the century becoming instinct is great. Without breeding these animals in captivity they will be lost for us because of the destruction of their natural habitat.
Some animals that have become instinct are the COMMON DODO, STELLER'S SEACOW, PAINTED VULTURE, CUBAN RED MACAW, FLORIDA BLACK WOLF and BARBARY LION. In the wild gorillas spend a lot of time feeding because of the low nutritional content and scarcity of the foods they can forage. This accounts for their capacious stomachs and large bellies. They have to eat so much of their selective herbaceous diet. In captivity a fat gorilla is an unhealthy gorilla. Jambo eats a third to a quarter in weight of food he would have to eat in the wild to be a healthy gorilla. He has a balanced nutritious diet. Like Trouble, yogurt is part of his diet. Forage feeds are given to gorillas at the compound to help occupy their time between their three main feeds daily.
The open air compound where gorillas can look at humans and humans can look at gorillas is beneficial to both. Jambo was eleven years old when he arrived at the Jersey Preserve. He weights over 30 stones (420 pounds). Lee, the five year old boy, was able to meet Jambo, the gorilla that protected him, three weeks later. The ambulance driver that jumped into the open air compound to administer medical aid to Lee was given the Gold Star for his courageous act. Jambo destroyed the myth of the gorilla as a savage, aggressive beast. Brad and Trouble
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