BASIC DETAILS:

Name: Copito de Nieve / Floquet de Neu / Snowflake / Nfumu Ngui

Species: Gorilla gorilla

Subspecies: Gorilla gorilla gorilla (western lowland gorilla)

Special characteristics: he was the first known albino gorilla

Type of albinism: oculocutaneous (OCA)

Place of birth: Equatorial Guinea

Approximate date of birth: 1963/ 1964

Date of arrival in Barcelona: 1 November 1966

Date of dead: 24 November 2003

Cause of death: skin cancer; squamous cell carcinoma

Height: 163 cm when mature

Weight at death: Approx. 100 Kg

Number of offspring: 21

Number of offspring alive: 5; 1 male and 4 female

Number of grandchildren: 7; 4 female and 3 male

FEEDING:

Like all gorillas, Copito de Nieve was a herbivore and basically ate the fruit and vegetables that were in season.

At the Zoo, he was given four daily meals, consisting of seasonal fruit, vegetables and garden produce and alfalfa. To round off his diet, he was given special food for primates with his breakfast. Over the week, he was also given milkshakes, a hard-boiled egg, stale bread twice, fresh cheese once and yoghurt, which Copito liked very much, three times.

MEASUREMENT:

In his final years, Copito weighed around 100 Kg, but a few years ago he suffered from obesity. In 1997, he weighed over 190 Kg and was placed on a specific diet to lose weight. Copito, who was 163 cm tall and weighed 145 Kg on average, was never heavily-built.