Bebe France

Wild-caught from Cameroon’s forests in 1979, Bebe France represents a generation of western lowland gorillas brought into European zoos during the early years of international conservation efforts. She was just five years old when she first arrived at Burgers’ Zoo in the Netherlands in 1984.

For seventeen years, she lived within the Dutch zoo’s gorilla group before moving to Zoo Leipzig in Germany in 2001. Her time there spanned over a decade, during which managed breeding programs for her subspecies became increasingly sophisticated across European institutions.

Since 2012, she has made her home at Zoologischer Garten Rostock on Germany’s Baltic coast. Now in her mid-forties, Bebe France has witnessed decades of change in how zoos approach great ape care and conservation.

Her subspecies faces mounting pressure in the wild. Western lowland gorillas are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, with habitat loss and hunting continuing to threaten populations across Central and West Africa.