Shabani, this silverback, is considered the ‘most handsome’ gorilla in the world.
Shabani is considered a symbol of how a handsome man should look like by Japanese women who call him “Ikeme” or handsome guy and flock in hundreds to his zoo to see him daily.
He was born on 20 October, 1996, in Appenheul Primate Park, Apeldoom, Netherlands, but currently lives in Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Nagoya, Japan.
Shabani’s fame grew worldwide when American television news medium CNN carried a report on him on 29 June, 2019.
Other leading media houses including BBC, have also reported on him.
Pictures of him adore the social media with talk of how Japanese women have gone ape for Shabani, even singing love songs for him which zookeepers say, is much to his embarrassment and disturbance.
Zoo keepers have however, banned singing and placed a sign by the entrance to Shabani’s enclosure barring zoo visitors from disturbing him.
There is no evidence that gorillas are attracted to human beings or women for that matter.
Shabani is still alive and doing well. His height is 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) and weighs 190 kg (418 lb).
Gorillas can live up to 40 to 50 years and up to 60 years old in a zoo.
pictures courtesy of Japan Times.
