Silverback

If you grew-up in Milwaukee you know exactly who this is.

 

click on images for a closer look

 

Samson arrived at the Washington Park Zoo in 1950 as a baby with another baby gorilla called Sambo.  They came from Africa as a gift from the Pabst Brewing Company.  Shortly after their arrival both of these lowland gorillas came down with serious colds and almost perished. 

 

When the Zoo moved to its current location on Blue Mound Road the Primate House was the first building opened to the public.  Both Samson and Sambo moved to their new quarters on October 2, 1959.  Sambo died one month later, Nov. 2, 1959.  At the time both Samson and Sambo were estimated to be 10 years old. 

 

Samson was one of the zoo’s most popular residents and my childhood memory of him was his enormous girth (topping out at 652 pounds) and his propensity for charging and striking the glass enclosure of his cage.  An entire generation of school children grew-up terrified of this impressive silverback gorilla. 

 

Samson died November 27, 1981 of a heart attack.  The Milwaukee Public Museum recreated Samson in an exhibit: Samson Remembered – with his likeness crafted by Wendy Christensen. 

 

 

You can learn more about the history of the Milwaukee Zoo's most famous resident here.