PRESS ROOM

ROYAL OAK, Mich., 

The Detroit Zoological Society (DZS) is celebrating World Gorilla Day on Monday, September 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Detroit Zoo’s Great Apes of Harambee. Through interaction with animal care staff and educational activities, the event will give guests a deeper understanding of these primates and their wild counterparts.

Zookeeper talks will be held at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., offering fun facts about half-brothers Pende, Kongo and Chip, the three silverback western lowland gorillas who live at the Detroit Zoo. Guests will be able to see how they measure up against the arm span of a gorilla and replicate the primates’ diets by weighing plastic fruit. Kenyan naturalist and DZS Education Specialist David Gakure will share conservation-themed stories and firsthand accounts of African animals and environmental changes.

“World Gorilla Day gives Detroit Zoo visitors a chance to celebrate the largest of the great apes while learning about the challenges they face in nature and what we can all do to help,” said Scott Carter, DZS chief life sciences officer.

The DZS will also collect used cell phones for recycling during World Gorilla Day. The mining of an ore called coltan is having devastating effects on the habitats of endangered gorillas and other wildlife living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Coltan is an essential component of smartphones and many other electronic devices. By recycling old cell phones, the coltan can be used again.

The DZS partners with the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) Center in the DRC, which provides a home for orphaned Grauer’s gorillas whose parents were killed by poachers. The DZS has assisted the GRACE staff with veterinary care – providing wellness exams on the gorillas living there – and with the development of humane education programs for children and adults in nearby communities, helping to foster behavioral changes that result in a positive impact for people, animals and their shared home.