Barcelona had its own Yeti
Friday, January 30th, 2009Snowflake or Copito de Nieve was the only albino gorilla known from scientists. Real celebrity of Barcelona’s zoo, this white gorilla passes in November 2003 from a skin cancer.
It had been in captivity in 1996 in Equatorial Guinea (which used to belong to Spanish) and was brought to Spain by a Spanish scientist, Jordi Sabater Pi, who found it locked up by a hunter from the Fang tribe.
Adult, it weighted 399 £. It used to eat fruits, vegetables and skimmed dairy products.
It passed in its forties, which is rare knowing that a gorilla in its natural environment, lives, in average, 25 years.
Its albinism was the origin of its skin cancer which was fatal. While it was in captivity it had got 21 kids; none of them received this chromosomal anomaly.