Xebo

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 remaining across their native range in Central Africa. Xebo was born at Royal Rotterdam Zoological Gardens in October 1985, the son of Xara and Ernst, during a time when European breeding programs were becoming essential for the species’ survival.

At eleven years old, he transferred to Parc Zoològic de Barcelona in December 1996. There he would spend the next 27 years of his life, growing from an adolescent into a mature silverback. His subspecies, Gorilla gorilla gorilla, carries the Critically Endangered classification from the IUCN.

Captive-born gorillas like Xebo represent genetic diversity that conservation programs work to preserve. He lived through nearly four decades of changing approaches to great ape care, from his birth in the mid-1980s through to early 2024.

Xebo died at Barcelona Zoo in February 2024, having spent the majority of his 38 years contributing to one of Europe’s established gorilla populations. His lineage traces back to the foundational animals that helped establish sustainable breeding groups across European institutions.