Snowflake was captured in theRío Muni region inSpanish Guinea on 1 October 1966 by Benito Mañé, a farmer of theFang people. Mañé had killed the rest of Snowflake's gorilla group, who were all typically colored gorillas. Mañé then kept Snowflake at his home for four days before transporting him toBata, where he was purchased byprimatologistJordi Sabater Pi.[4]
Originally namedNfumu Ngui inFang language ("white gorilla") by his captor, he was then nicknamedFloquet de Neu (Catalan for "little snowflake"[5]) by his keeper, Jordi Sabater Pi.[6][7]
Snowflake was a western lowland gorilla with non-syndromicoculocutaneous albinism.[8][9][10] He had poor vision, though tests to determine whether he had a central blind spot did not find one.[11] Barcelona Zoo director Antonio Jonch wrote:
"The eye had a blueishsclera, a normalcornea, and a light blueiris which was very transparent to transillumination.Accommodation and refraction were normal. The media were transparent and thefundus of the eye normal and totally depigmented. Thechoroidalvessels were perfectly visible and thepupil was normal. The animal displayed markedphotophobia, which caused it to close its eyes repeatedly when exposed to bright light. In diffuse light similar to that in itsbiotope, we calculated that it blinked on an average of 20 times a minute."[10]
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. The same study revealed that his albinism was caused by a mutation of theSLC45A2 gene. Snowflake received therecessive gene from both parents, causing his albinism.[8][12]
Snowflake resting in his enclosureFloquet de Neu (August 1993)
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 calledBlancanieves ("Snow White") in the newspaperTele/Exprés.[13] He became famous, though, with the name given to him by Sabater whenNational Geographic featured him on the cover in March 1967, with the English name Snowflake. This name spread among the press (Stern,Life,Paris-Match). Sabater himself called the gorillaCopi orFloquet, and in the later yearsNfumu.
Snowflake fathered 22 offspring by three different mates, or "dams". Six of his offspring survived to adulthood.[14] None of Snowflake's offspring were albino, but all should be heterozygous, recessive carriers, for the albino gene.[15] Half of his grandchildren likely carry the albino gene. If both parents were albino gene carriers, they have a 25% chance of producing an albino offspring and a 50% chance that the offspring will be a carrier of the gene.[16]
As of September 2021, Snowflake had a total of 21 grandchildren (11 survived) and eight great-grandchildren (all living).[17] Snowflake's great-grandson N'Kou has pink fingers, which is perhaps suggestive of partial albinism.[citation needed]
In 2001, Snowflake was diagnosed with an unusual form ofskin cancer, almost certainly related to his albinism.[18] By 2003, Snowflake's health began to deteriorate. After he began losing interest in his usual activities, isolating himself from other gorillas and exhibiting signs of pain, Snowflake's keepers decided toeuthanize him.[19] The decision was publicly announced in September 2003.[14] Thousands of people visited Snowflake at the Barcelona Zoo before he was euthanized on 24 November 2003. At the time of his death, Snowflake was thought to be between 38 and 40 years old.[14][20]
A scholarship for research onprimatology was created in memory of and homage to Snowflake. Snowflake's fame also helped to promote awareness of the endangered gorilla species.[19]
An illustration and brief description of Snowflake (as of 1969) appears in the Italian children nonfiction book seriesGuarda e Scopri Gli Animali.[22]
The gorilla became a main character in the novelMemòries d'en Floquet de Neu ("Snowflake's Memories") by Catalan writer Toni Sala.
Sabater Pi also dedicated a book to the gorilla, under the titleCopito para Siempre (Snowflake Forever).
He also makes a brief appearance inItalo Calvino's novelMr. Palomar – the passage is a meditation on loneliness, captivity, the burden of being unique in the world, and mortality.
In 2009 French musicianEnzo Enzo released the albumToutim where the songCopito De Nieve De Barcelone is dedicated to Snowflake.[25]
In 2011, there was a live action/CGI film calledSnowflake, the White Gorilla that depicts the fictional childhood of Snowflake (voiced by Kai Stroink in the original Spanish version and byAriana Grande in the English dub).
Other albino (or white-furred) gorillas similar in appearance to Snowflake have appeared in different media.
Prior to the birth of Snowflake, the filmSon of Kong featuredKing Kong's son, which was a white gorilla that was twice the height of a human and was named "Little Kong".
InLegends of Chima, the Gorilla Tribe member Grizzam has white fur similar to Snowflake.
InBlack Dynamite (TV series), there is a large white gorilla also named Nfumu by a member of the Fang people. The gorilla is colloquially known in the show as Honky Kong.
A white-furred gorilla appears in the French superhero comic seriesPhotonik (featuring in "African Devil"; Volume 1,Mustang #66, 1981),[26] serving as the totem for an evil shaman who wishes to rule all of Africa. As was the case with Snowflake, his entire group is killed by an unscrupulous poacher, and the white gorilla sold into captivity.
In thePlanet of the Apes franchise, a white western lowland gorilla named Winter (voiced and motion-captured byAleks Paunovic), appears in Caesar's tribe and defected to the Colonel's side out of fear.
In the 2018 filmRampage (which is based on thevideo game series of the same name), George (motion-captured by Jason Liles) is white in the movie adaptation to differentiate him from King Kong.Dwayne Johnson stated that George is based on Snowflake.
^"Little Snowflake, World's First White Gorilla",The Palm Beach Post, February 22, 1967
^abJavier Prado-Martinez; Irene Hernando-Herraez; Belen Lorente-Galdos; Marc Dabad; Oscar Ramirez; Carlos Baeza-Delgado; Carlos Morcillo-Suarez; Can Alkan; Fereydoun Hormozdiari; Emanuele Raineri; Jordi Estellé; Marcos Fernandez-Callejo; Mònica Valles; Lars Ritscher; Torsten Schöneberg; Elisa de la Calle-Mustienes; Sònia Casillas; Raquel Rubio-Acero; Marta Melé; Johannes Engelken; Mario Caceres; Jose Luis Gomez-Skarmeta9; Marta Gut; Jaume Bertranpetit; Ivo G Gut; Teresa Abello; Evan E Eichler; Ismael Mingarro; Carles Lalueza-Fox; Arcadi Navarro; Tomas Marques-Bonet (May 31, 2013)."The genome sequencing of an albino western lowland gorilla reveals inbreeding in the wild".BMC Genomics.14: 363.doi:10.1186/1471-2164-14-363.PMC3673836.PMID23721540.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^abDuplaix-Hall, Nicole; Antonio Jonch (1967). "The White Gorilla (Gorilla g. gorilla) At Barcelona Zoo".International Zoo Yearbook. Vol. XIII. London: Zoological Society of London. p. 196.OCLC604039131.
^Riopelle, A.J., "Growing up with Snowflake",National Geographic, 138:490–503, October 1970
^Davis, James R. (June 1, 2014)."0281 – SNOWFLAKE".Dewar Wildlife. Dewar Wildlife Trust, Inc.Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. RetrievedJune 6, 2014.
Riopelle, A.J., "Snowflake the world's first white gorilla",National Geographic 131:442-8, March 1967
"Unique in all gorilladom: Roman Luera Carbo's Snowflake",Life 62:69–70, March 31, 1967
Riopelle, A.J., "Growing up with Snowflake",National Geographic 138:490–503, October 1970
Jonch, Antonio, "The White Gorilla (Gorilla g. gorilla) At Barcelona Zoo",International Zoo Yearbook Vol. XIII, 1967, pg. 196
Schmeck, Harold M. Jr., "First Known White Gorilla Is Found",The New York Times F. 23 pgs. 1:5 & 41:2
"Rare albino gorilla dies",The Montreal Gazette, November 25, 2003, pg. A.21
Gerritsen, Vivienne Baillie (August 2004)"Snowy stardom".Protein Spotlight (SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics).
pbs.orgNature episode: "Snowflake: The White Gorilla" atPBS.org
Tavella, Elizabeth (2023). "Reframing Whiteness in the Zoo: Snowflake the Gorilla in Modern Media". In Thurston-Torres, Jonathan W. (ed.). Animals and Race.
