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CommonLit | The Dental-Floss Fish by Craig Stevens | CommonLit

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CommonLit | Are Animals Inventors? by Gail Jarrow and Paul Sherman | CommonLit

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Willie B. (C. 1959 - February 2, 2000) was a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Zoo of Atlanta for 39 years, from 1961 until his death on February 2, 2000. He was named after the former mayor of Atlanta, William Berry Hartsfield. Willie B. was kept in isolation for 27 years with only a television and a tire swing to keep him company. In 1988, he was moved to an outside exhibit and allowed to socialize and raise a family. He then embraced his role as silverback and leader of a troop.

Willie B. was the second Gorilla known by that name at the Atlanta Zoo. The previous Willie B. died at the age of 3 shortly before the better-known successor was purchased. Both Willie B's had been purchased from international gorilla hunter Dr. Deets Pickett of Kansas City. The second Willie B. cost $5,500 to obtain for the zoo.

Willie B. fathered five offspring at Zoo Atlanta: Kudzoo, Olympia, Sukari, Kidogo, and Lulu. Kidogo, the only male offspring, took on the name Willie B., Jr. after his father died, taking his place as the heir. When he died at the age of 41, he was the oldest gorilla in the United States to have fathered offspring.

More than 8,000 people attended the memorial ceremony held in his honor, and the zoo now has a life-size bronze statue of him on permanent display outside the Gorilla exhibit. His remains were cremated and 80 percent of his remains were kept in a bronze box in the bronze statue at Zoo Atlanta and the other 20 percent were flown back to the African jungle. The Atlanta Silverbacks soccer team was named in his honor.

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Owen and Mzee  The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship SD

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Species: Western Lowland Gorilla

Pronunciation: "Wil-ee Bee"

A legend in his own time, remembered fondly by generations of Atlantans, and an icon of the transformation of Zoo Atlanta, Willie B. the western lowland gorilla lived at the Zoo from 1961 until his passing in 2000 at the age of 42.

Born in Africa, he arrived at the Zoo in 1961. He was named for former Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield and quickly became the Zoo's best-known animal. At the time, he was the Zoo's only gorilla.

During the first many years of Willie B.'s life, animal spaces in zoos were designed very differently than they are today. Until the age of 29, he lived in an indoor environment.

On May 13, 1988, Willie B. had his first opportunity to step outside since his babyhood with the opening of the Zoo's Ford African Rain Forest. Around 25,000 people - attendance at that time considered unprecedented for the Zoo - came to see him in his spacious new outdoor habitat.

The Ford African Rain Forest would become the home of a new group of gorillas, some of whom became the mothers of Willie B.'s five offspring: Kudzoo, Olympia, Sukari, Willie B., Jr., and Lulu.

Willie B. passed away in February 2000. His memorial service, where he was eulogized by Ambassador Andrew Young, was attended by more than 5,000 people.

His legacy lives on in what is now an internationally-recognized gorilla program and in his children and grandchildren. A memorial to Willie B. stands outside the Ford African Rain Forest and is the Zoo's most visited photo opportunity.

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Species: Western Lowland Gorilla Pronunciation: "Wil-ee Bee" A legend in his own time, remembered fondly by generations of Atlantans, and an icon of the transformation of Zoo Atlanta, Willie B. the western lowland gorilla lived at the Zoo from 1961 until his passing in 2000 at the age of 42.