“You do not teach the paths of the forest

to an old gorilla.  He teaches you.”

                                   African Proverb

There was a death in my neighborhood yesterday,

A wake was held to send my neighbor on her way.

It was a private affair attended only by her family group,

But many of us who knew her were saddened by the news.

Her names was Babs, and she was a grand old matriarch,

She lived just down the road from me, just across the park.

I’ve visited Babs and her family many times over the past 30 years,

And her passing really saddened me, and yes, I even shed a few tears.

Babs was a Western Lowland gorilla, and a caring considerate mother,

She kept her family together, and always provided guidance for the others.

Babs died at 30-years of age, from a fatal kidney condition,

And I know my next visit to the zoo just won’t be as much fun.

Babs had been in ill health for several days prior to her passing, refusing to eat or take her medication; and her family sadly knew she was dying.

After Babs passed away yesterday, her keepers at Brookfield Zoo decided to allow her surviving gorilla family members to mourn the most influential female in their social group.

One by one, these gorillas filed into the Tropic World building where Babs' body lay, arms outstretched at her sides.

Zoo Curator Melinda Pruett Jones called it a ‘gorilla wake,’ and she said she cried as she watched them sadly say good-bye to one of their own.

“Babs' 9-year-old daughter, Bana, was the first to approach her body, followed by Babs' mother, Alpha.

“Young Bana sat down, held Babs' hand, and stroked her dead mother's stomach. Then she mournfully laid her head on Babs' arm.

  "Then Bana rose up, looked at us very sadly, and moved to Babs' other side, tucked her head under her mother’s other arm, and stroked Babs' stomach once again.”

The other gorillas in the family group also soon approached Babs’ side, gently sniffed her body, and sadly paid their last respects.

Koola, aged 9, brought her tiny infant daughter, whom Babs had showered with attention since her birth last August.

Koola inspected Babs' mouth for a while, then held her baby very close to Babs, like she loved to do the last couple of months, letting Babs admire her.

Only their courageous silverback male leader, Ramar, 36, stayed away.   He was dutifully guarding the mourning family group at the public entrance to their home.

Zoo keepers said this gorilla wake wasn't surprising at all.  Gorillas in the wild have also been known to pay their last respects to their dead.

"She was the dominant female of the group, the peacekeeper, the disciplinarian, the one who kept things in a harmonious state," Pruett Jones said.

Gorillas are very intelligent, social animals. They are self-aware, show emotion, and have very strong family bonds in their troops, which are made up of an adult male, several adult females, and numerous offspring ranging from infants to young adults. These groupings mean security for all the animals in them.

Besides these displays of sadness and mourning for deceased family members, gorillas use as many as 16 different kinds of vocalizations to communicate with each other. They hoot to warn other troops to stay away, and they use grunts and barks to keep the troop together.  They can also communicate with each other through numerous facial expressions.

There are three subspecies of gorilla: the eastern lowland gorilla, the mountain gorilla, and the western lowland gorilla.

Brookfield Zoo near my home houses western lowland gorillas, which are slightly smaller and lighter in color than the other two subspecies.  Western lowland gorillas have brownish-gray highlights among their mostly black fur, which often turns grey with age.

As their name implies, they live farther west in Africa than the other two subspecies.