Who was Bobo the Gorilla?

Bobo the Gorilla

Bobo the gorilla was and is an iconic part of Pacific Northwest history. Purchased as an infant from a Columbus, Ohio, game hunter by Anacortes, Washington, commercial fisherman, Bill Lowman, in December 1951, Bobo was raised by Bill and his parents, Jean and Ray Lowman, for the next two years very much like a human child, in their home in the small Puget Sound town.

Bobo and the Lowmans became an instant media sensation, appearing on The Movietone News, the popular television program "You Asked for It," and in countless newspapers and magazines, including a photo feature in Life.

The Lowmans, Bill, Jean, Ray, and Bill's two young daughters, Susan and Claudia, bonded closely with the little gorilla, who became as much a part of their family as if he were a human child.  So, it was a wrench when the family realized that they could no longer handle the young Lowland gorilla's growing strength and the difficult decision was made to sell Bobo the Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.

In December, 1951, Bobo made the move from a human home to the zoo, a transition eased by Jean Lowman taking up extended around-the-clock residence with Bobo in his first cage to help the young primate for whom she had been surrogate mother settle in.

Bobo was the first gorilla at Woodland Park Zoo and became its highly-publicized star attraction.  He grew to adulthood there, but his natural life expectancy was cut short when he died unexpectedly in 1968 from a blood clot which apparently broke loose from a bruise on his leg.

Following his death, Bobo's skeleton was given to the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, and his hide was taxidermied and put on display at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI).  After the death of Bill, Jean and Ray Lowman, Bobo's childhood memorabilia and the family's scrapbooks were also given to the MOHAI collection by Bill's daughters.