HelloThis web site will be the log of a two-month road trip to document the family history of Coco, a chimpanzee who has resided at the Oregon Zoo for almost 40 years. The main purpose is to give my family and friends a way to follow my travels, but anyone who finds this page is welcome to join the trip. The adventure begins Tuesday, 5 September 2000, when I depart from Portland, Oregon. I expect to cover as much as 9,000 miles as I travel through 17 states -- visiting zoos, sanctuaries and old friends -- before returning to Oregon in early November. So please come back and track my progress. And if you are so inclined, send your comments and questions to me at
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Who is Coco?Coco is a common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) who has been at the Oregon Zoo since 1961. She is believed to have been born around 1952, making her one of the oldest female chimpanzees in the Species Survival Plan (SSP) -- and perhaps the most prolific. When Coco began having babies in the early 1960s, few records were kept, but she may have had as many as 17 babies, including several sets of twins. Two of her grown daughters, Delilah and Leah, live with her in Oregon. Leah's twin sister, Rachel, is at the Sunset Zoo in Manhattan, Kansas. Another daughter, Josie, is at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. Coco's last offspring, Joshua, went to live in Kansas City Zoo a few years ago. |
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Who am I?My name is Gerry. I'm a long-time volunteer at the Oregon Zoo with an even longer interest in chimpanzees. Much of my time at the Zoo is spent in the Primate House where I talk to people about these fascinating creatures. Several years ago I started to think about how I wanted to spend the 2-month sabbatical I would be eligible for in the year 2000. I wanted to do something with purpose. I decided that I would find out where Coco's many offspring had gone and would travel around the country to different zoos to see the ones who were still living and to talk to the people who knew them -- or who had known the ones who were no longer living. Early in my research, I discovered that Coco's babies born prior to 1972 were not documented and I am unlikely to find out what happened to them. Since I am also planning to explore issues in captive chimpanzee care over the five decades of Coco's life, I went forward with my plans to travel around the country. I will be visiting zoos where Coco's offspring have lived or are still living, but I will also be visiting zoos and sanctuaries that have chimpanzees -- especially older chimpanzees whose life experiences will allow me to speculate on what the lives of Coco's unknown sons and daughters might have been like. |
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Planned itinerary
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Credits: Many thanks to Cdev Solutions for allowing me to share their web space. Thanks also to Intel for loaning me the Intel(R) Pocket PC Camera.
