Quito

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 left across their African range. Quito was born into this critically endangered subspecies at Stone Memorial on June 1, 1981, the offspring of parents Gigi and Sam.

His life unfolded across multiple institutions over more than three decades. After spending his early years at Stone Memorial, he moved to Milwaukee County Zoological Gardens in 1985 as a four-year-old. The late 1980s brought two more relocations — first to Fort Worth Zoological Park, then to Saint Louis Zoological Park, where he would spend nearly a decade.

In March 1998, he transferred to Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens, which became his final home for fifteen years. Heart failure claimed his life there on January 25, 2013, at the age of 31. His death marked the end of a conservation story that spanned five zoos and represented decades of managed care for one of the world’s most endangered great apes.