Bushman You know, I never got to meet Bushman. The 62, 547 pound gorilla, who was a legend of Chicagos Lincoln Park Zoo, died just about two years before I was born. Bushman was purchased by the zoo, at the age of two, in 1930. He hailed from Cameroon, West Africa, where he had been a pet of a missionarys children. Bushman showed, at times, a paradoxical nature. He apparently was quite fond of children and showed off for them frequently. However he hated photographers and would enjoy throwing food and feces at them whenever he had the chance. On New Years morning,1951 keepers found that Bushman had died in his cage the night before. He had succumbed to a fatal heart attack, the second that he suffered in two years. All of Chicago mourned the Lord of Lincoln Park. But, of course, I DID get to meet Bushman. Most years that I was a kid we would field trip into town and visit the Field Museum. And there he is to this day, his taxidermied remains holding court over the museums ground floor, along with the dinosaur skellys and the famous maneating lions of Tsavo. With so much to view at the Field Bushman was always our favorite exhibit. Ive got to pay him another visit sometime.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 01:42:41 +0000
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