海角社区官网

Feigning indifference to his audience, Charles would sit with his back to the front of his enclosure, seemingly absorbed in the act of grooming, as recounted by long-time Star reporter Stan Josey in 1999. Suddenly and without warning, the massive primate would turn and run directly at the glass viewing window, arms waving wildly, unleashing a shock of adrenalin through the crowd. Then, as if that was the most normal thing in the world, Charles would return to his spot in his enclosure, his back to onlookers.聽

On Tuesday, after inspiring generations of visitors with his playful personality and later, his wise and protective leadership, Charles died after experiencing what the zoo called 鈥�.鈥� At 52, he was older than the zoo itself and one of its original residents.

Dolf DeJong, CEO of the 海角社区官网Zoo, called Charles an 鈥渋ncredible representative of his species.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e watched him grow up from that rambunctious Charlie, that energetic youngster, through those gangly teenage years, to the statesman and gentleman that he was for the bulk of his life as the silverback leading the troop,鈥� DeJong told the Star late Wednesday.

鈥淐harles was an amazing individual who at times people might have thought he looked a little sleepy, but he was always paying attention and knew what was going on.鈥�

The zoo said that last week staff first noticed that Charles was unusually quiet and slow-moving, showing a reduced appetite and breathing faster and harder than normal. The zoo鈥檚 wildlife health team made a presumptive diagnosis of heart failure and put Charles on cardiac medication. The silverback appeared to be improving over the weekend, the zoo said, and even as recently as Tuesday morning seemed to be rallying. But then suddenly his condition worsened and he passed away late in the afternoon. An ongoing post-mortem has already confirmed what the zoo called 鈥渟ignificant changes鈥� to his heart.聽

DeJong likened the loss of Charles to that of an extended family member for many of the zoo鈥檚 staff, some of whom have worked with the gorilla for decades.聽

鈥淵ou see people in the deepest of grief that I鈥檝e witnessed, comparable to any human funeral,鈥� he said, adding that as staff grieved for their lost comrade, they were also turning their attention to ensuring the troop that Charles led was taken care of.

Charles鈥檚 early life is like something out of a Rudyard Kipling novel. Orphaned in the jungles of the central African nation of Gabon in 1972 after his mother was reportedly killed by hunters for food, the little gorilla was packed off in a crate to a zoo in Germany. At the age of two, Charles was sent to Canada to become one of the 海角社区官网Zoo鈥檚 main attractions when it opened on Scarborough鈥檚 Meadowvale Road in 1974.聽

The playful and fast-growing youngster with a tuft of reddish hair on his head soon became a star attraction, entertaining visitors by doing cannonballs into the pool, staying in the water until he resembled a prune.聽

It took him a few years to discover the opposite sex, but when he did, there was no looking back. In 1981, he became a father for the first time when he and gorilla Samantha had聽Natasha, a girl. In the ensuing decades, as leader of the zoo鈥檚 troop of Western lowland gorillas, Charles would sire 11 children and have six grandchildren. His most recent offspring, Charlie, a girl, was born in 2018.

Charles also became the zoo鈥檚 resident Picasso, putting edible paint to canvas with his knuckles, creating a body of multicoloured, abstract work that garnered critical acclaim. In the mid-1990s, art lovers paid anywhere between $400 and $800 for a Charles to hang in their living rooms.聽

During his five decades at the zoo, some 60 million visitors passed by Charles鈥檚 habitat, DeJong said, inspiring generations to learn about the plight of his critically endangered species, which mainly inhabit remote jungles and rainforests in central Africa.聽

The World Wildlife Fund reports that poaching and disease have caused the species鈥� numbers to decline by more than 60 per cent in the last 25 years, with the population continuing to decline. Western lowland gorillas typically live to between 30 and 40 years of age in the wild, according to the 海角社区官网Zoo.聽

Charles was an ambassador for the zoo鈥檚 PhoneApes Program, which encourages the public to recycle their cellphones to help reduce demand for coltan, a metallic ore mined in Congo rainforests, known to be habitats for Western lowland gorillas.聽

On the occasion of Charles鈥檚 50th birthday in 2022, the 海角社区官网Zoo Wildlife Conservancy committed $250,000 to support conservation efforts in his name.聽

鈥淐harles will be profoundly missed, not only by his gorilla family, but also by the entire zoo community and visitors who cherished their interactions with him,鈥� the zoo鈥檚 reads. 鈥淗is legacy will live on through descendants, the ongoing conservation in initiatives he inspired, and the countless hearts he touched along the way.鈥�