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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

News & Record (Greensboro, NC) 
December 20, 2000, Wednesday, ALL EDITIONS 

RAMAR TRIUMPHS: HE CAN BEAT HIS HAIRY CHEST NOW


Ramar the gorilla was popular - but didn't sire a baby - at the N.C. Zoo.
the gorilla dubbed the "reluctant Romeo" for his inability to sire a baby
at the North Carolina Zoo and others across the country - is finally going
to be a dad. 

Since 1978, zoo keepers in Asheboro, Philadelphia and Miami had hoped that
Ramar, a 365-pound male Western lowland gorilla, would sire a baby. But
Ramar was unsuccessful until he was moved to Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and
placed with six females. 

Though Brookfield officials never actually saw him monkey around, they
don't need a paternity test. Baraka, a 10-year-old female, is pregnant with
her first baby, due in March, and Ramar, 32, is the only male gorilla at
the zoo. 

"Maybe now he'll be known as Ramar the Triumphant," said Rod Hackney,
spokesman for the N.C. Zoological Park. 

Ramar was born in the wild in Africa and brought to the United States as a
nightclub act. He made at least one appearance on "The Merv Griffin Show"
before getting so large his trainer couldn't handle him. He tried out for
the classic American Tourister luggage commercial, but lost the gig when he
manhandled the baggage, Hackney said. 

Ramar became the star attraction at the N.C. Zoo in the mid-1970s and again
in the 1980s and '90s when he was brought back to the permanent African
exhibit at the zoo. He spent years with a female gorilla named Hope, who
was later paired with another male gorilla in a zoo-made love triangle that
eventually made Hope a mother. 

Ramar was popular, and many people criticized N.C. Zoo officials for
sending him away. But Hackney said it was important to place Ramar in an
environment where he could breed. 

"We made the right decision," he said.