![]() He also makes a brief appearance in Italo Calvino's novel Mr.Sabater Pi also dedicated a book to the gorilla, under the title Copito para Siempre ( Snowflake Forever).The gorilla became a main character in the novel Memòries d'en Floquet de Neu ("Snowflake's Memories") by Catalan writer Toni Sala.An illustration and brief description of Snowflake (as of 1969) appears in the Italian children nonfiction book series Guarda e Scopri Gli Animali.Snowflake's fame also helped to promote awareness of the endangered gorilla species. A scholarship for research on primatology was created in memory of and homage to Snowflake.The asteroid 95962 Copito, discovered by Spanish astronomer J.At the time of his death, Snowflake was thought to be between 38 and 40 years old. Thousands of people visited Snowflake at the Barcelona Zoo before he was euthanized on 24 November 2003. The decision was publicly announced in September 2003. After he began losing interest in his usual activities, isolating himself from other gorillas and exhibiting signs of pain, Snowflake's keepers decided to euthanize him. By 2003, Snowflake's health began to deteriorate. In 2001, Snowflake was diagnosed with an unusual form of skin cancer, almost certainly related to his albinism. Snowflake's great-grandson N'Kou has pink fingers, which is perhaps suggestive of partial albinism. Īs of September 2021, Snowflake had a total of 21 grandchildren (11 survived) and eight great-grandchildren (all living). If both parents were albino gene carriers, they have 25% chance of producing an albino offspring and a 50% chance that the offspring will be a carrier of the gene. Half of his grandchildren likely carry the albino gene. None of Snowflake's offspring were albino, but all should be heterozygous, recessive carriers, for the albino gene. Six of his offspring survived to adulthood. Snowflake fathered 22 offspring by three different mates, or "dams". Sabater himself called the gorilla Copi or Floquet, and in the later years Nfumu. This name spread among the press ( Stern, Life, Paris-Match). He became famous, though, with the name given to him by Sabater when National Geographic featured him on the cover in March 1967, with the English name Snowflake. Upon his arrival to Barcelona in November 1966, he was given an official reception by the then- mayor of Barcelona, Josep Maria de Porcioles, and called Blancanieves (" Snow White") in the newspaper Tele/Exprés. Snowflake received the recessive gene from both parents, causing his albinism. The same study revealed that his albinism was caused by a mutation of the SLC45A2 gene. Study of Snowflake's genome determined that his parents had 12% of their DNA in common, leading researchers to believe that his parents were uncle and niece. In diffuse light similar to that in its biotope, we calculated that it blinked on an average of 20 times a minute." The animal displayed marked photophobia, which caused it to close its eyes repeatedly when exposed to bright light. The choroidal vessels were perfectly visible and the pupil was normal. The media were transparent and the fundus of the eye normal and totally depigmented. Accommodation and refraction were normal. "The eye had a blueish sclera, a normal cornea, and a light blue iris which was very transparent to transillumination. Barcelona Zoo director Antonio Jonch wrote: He had poor vision, though tests to determine whether he had a central blind spot did not find one. Snowflake was a western lowland gorilla with non-syndromic oculocutaneous albinism. ![]() Originally named Nfumu Ngui in Fang language ("white gorilla") by his captor, he was then nicknamed Floquet de Neu ( Catalan for "little snowflake" ) by his keeper, Jordi Sabater Pi. Mañé then kept Snowflake at his home for four days before transporting him to Bata, where he was purchased by primatologist Jordi Sabater Pi. Mañé had killed the rest of Snowflake's gorilla group (traditional in colour). Snowflake was captured in the Río Muni region in Spanish Guinea on 1 October 1966 by ethnic Fang farmer Benito Mañé. He was kept at Barcelona Zoo in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, from 1966 until his death in 2003. 1964 – 24 November 2003) was a western lowland gorilla who was the world's only known albino gorilla to date. Snowflake ( Catalan: Floquet de Neu, Spanish: Copito de Nieve, French: Flocon de Neige c. Barcelona Zoo, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spainīeing the world's only known albino gorilla
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