Massa (1930 – 30 December 1984) was a male

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

who reached the age of 54 years. At the time, this was the oldest gorilla ever recorded, though later individuals would eventually surpass that record. Massa was born in the wild in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He was shipped to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at an early age and his first owner was

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

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Gertrude Lintz Gertrude Ada Davies Lintz (1880 – 1968Hahn, Emily (1988). ''Eve and the Apes'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ) was an English-American dog breeder and socialite known for keeping exotic animals, including chimpanzees and gorillas, in her Brooklyn hom ...

. In 1935, after accidentally spilling water on Massa, which startled him severely, Lintz decided to sell him to the

Philadelphia Zoo The Philadelphia Zoo, located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, is the first true zoo in the United States. It was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, but its openin ...

.NY Times, 54-YEAR-OLD GORILLA, OLDEST IN CAPTIVITY, DIES IN PHILADELPHIA, UPI, January 1, 1985
In his prime, Massa weighed 400 lbs (181 kg). Massa lived at the zoo until his death from a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on 30 December 1984, following a special birthday party held by the zoo, complete with a special cake and a live

dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

band. He was buried within the grounds of the zoo. The 1997 film ''

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...

'' was based on the life of Massa (with some elements from the life of another of Lintz's gorillas,

Gargantua ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...

, who was known at the time as Buddy).

References

*Milwaukee Public Museum Exhibit: Samson Remembered __NOTOC__

Notes

External links

*
youtube, Massa the Gorilla
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massa 1930 animal births 1984 animal deaths Individual gorillas

See also

References

Notes

External links