Mike

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 remaining across their African range. Mike was born into this critically endangered subspecies at Zoo de la Palmyre in August 1989, the son of Annette and Migger.

Captive-born gorillas like Mike represent crucial genetic diversity for managed populations across European zoos. He spent his entire quarter-century at the French zoo where he was born, becoming part of the fabric of that institution’s gorilla program.

Tragically, his life ended suddenly in October 2014 when he suffered a ruptured aneurysm. At 25 years old, he had lived through significant changes in gorilla conservation efforts, though his own story remained rooted in one place — the zoo that had been his home since birth.