Gorillas: They're Just Like Us, But Hairier

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Dec 8, 2004 7:08PM

Chicagoist usually gets the creeps when animals act too much like people. Like when a sea otter floats on its back and eats food off its chest—that's waaaaay too similar to our position on the couch most afternoons. So we're put-off just a little by primates when they groom each other and fashion crude tools and write manifestos: it all hits a little close to home, y'know?

We cried at this story today. Zoo keepers at the Brookfield Zoo held a gorilla wake on Tuesday to help the surviving gorillas mourn the 30-year-old Babs. We're not going to rehash the blow-by-blow gorillas-are-breaking-my-heart angle from the Trib story, but suffice to say: dead gorilla + sad gorillas + weeping zoo keepers = sad Chicagoist.

Babs had been suffering from kidney disease and keepers felt it was time to euthanize her. After hearing about a similar gorilla wake held last month (invite only), keepers thought the other gorillas might benefit from saying goodbye to Babs; apparently, gorillas in the wild do indeed pay their respects. No word on whether they get drunk and have desperation sex.

Babs was born at the Brookfield Zoo, and she's been the matriarch of the 'rilla crew for about 15 years. Worried that now Babs has died, she can't add to her brood? Not true! Shortly after the wake, "Zoo workers quickly removed her ovaries in preparation for transport to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, where the test-tube procedure will be attempted." Phew.