Bokito (14 March 1996 – 4 April 2023) was a male western gorilla born in captivity that lived most of his life in Diergaarde Blijdorpzoo in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He became the subject of considerable media coverage after breaking out of his enclosure on 18 May 2007, abducting a female visitor and severely injuring her.
Bokito was born in the Zoologischer Garten, Berlin, Germany, and was abandoned by his mother at birth. He was then raised by human attendants. To avoid the risk of inbreeding, he was transferred to Rotterdam in August 2005, where the mauling incident later took place.
In November 2021, Bokito and other gorillas of his family became infected with COVID-19.[1]
Incidents
Bokito
In mid-2004, Bokito escaped from his enclosure in Berlin and climbed its 3-metre-high (9.8 ft) wall. He was escorted back to his enclosure without further incident.[2]
On 18 May 2007, Bokito responded to children throwing rocks at him[3] by jumping over the water-filled ditch that separated his enclosure in Rotterdam from the public; he violently attacked a woman, dragging her around for tens of metres and inflicting bone fractures as well as more than a hundred bite wounds. He subsequently entered a nearby restaurant, causing panic among the visitors. During this encounter, three more people were injured as a result of the panic. Bokito was eventually tranquilized and placed back in his cage.[4][5][6]
The woman who was attacked had been a regular visitor to the great apes' enclosure, visiting an average of four times per week. She had a habit of touching the glass that separated the public from the gorillas, while making eye contact with Bokito and smiling at him. Although smiling is often associated with submissive or non-aggressive behavior, in gorillas[7] eye contact is a practice that is discouraged by primatologists, as apes are likely to interpret eye contact as a challenge or a form of aggressive display.[citation needed] Zoo employees had previously warned her against doing this, but she continued, claiming a special bond with him: in an interview with De Telegraaf she said, "When I smile at him, he smiles back".[4][3][8]
The word "bokitoproof", meaning "durable enough to resist the actions of an enraged gorilla" and by extension "durable enough to resist the actions of a non-specific extreme situation" was voted the Word of the Year for 2007 in the Netherlands.[13][14]
Offspring
Bokito was the dominant male of his gorilla group. He fathered ten offspring with multiple females, born between October 2006 and February 2022. The main challenger for his title as dominant male, Dango, was transferred to the Shanghai Zoo in 2007 along with his two primary female mates.[citation needed]
Death
Bokito died on 4 April 2023, at the age of 27.[15] In November 2023, Blijdorp indicated that they would stop hosting gorillas after Bokito's death, stating that it would be a risk to introduce a new male and that the zoo needed the space for other conservancy efforts.[16] In January 2024, Blijdorp announced that Bokito would serve as an object of study of the musculoskeletal system of apes, with a detailed scan of him to be made by KU Leuven. His remains would subsequently be made available to the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, where they would be stored for at least ten years.[17]
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