As part of the launch event, Bristol Zoo invited a special guest – a ‘real’ gorilla! The life-like, interactive, animatronics gorilla, created by Animated Extras, helped draw attention to the Zoo’s project, and to raise awareness of the plight of apes in the wild.

Now businesses, organisations and schools from across the city are being invited to sponsor a gorilla sculpture. Once sponsored, the sculptures will be individually painted by local and regional artists, community groups and schools with their own designs. The gorillas will then form a public art trail around the streets and parks of Bristol for 10 weeks next summer.

Dr Bryan Carroll, Director of Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: “We want our birthday year to be a city-wide celebration of all that is great about Bristol and its people. Our exciting ‘Wow! Gorillas’ project will showcase the creativity of Bristol while attracting visitors to the city thus stimulating the local economy, and will be the highlight of the year. We hope the colourful sculptures will be enjoyed by thousands of Bristolians and visitors to the city.” 

He added: “As well as being great fun, these gorillas will help convey vital messages about the extinction crisis facing gorillas and the other apes in the wild, and will help support our work to save gorillas and other apes in Cameroon.”

All apes - gorillas, chimps, bonobos, orang-utans and gibbons – are endangered and under threat from hunting, deforestation and disease. Without awareness-raising and funding to tackle the problems facing these species, they could become extinct, which is why Bristol Zoo is leading the European Association of Zoos’ Ape Campaign over the next 12 months.

Movement actor, Peter Elliott, and animatronics designer and mechanical engineer, Nik Williams, from Animated Extras, operated the gorilla for the Zoo’s launch event. Peter said: “Highlighting the plight of gorillas in the wild is essential in the effort to raise awareness of the need to save these iconic creatures.”

Following next summer’s public art display, the gorilla sculptures will be sold at auction to raise funds for gorilla conservation, with proceeds also going to a local charity.

For more information about Bristol Zoo’s Wow! Gorilla project, please visit the website www.wowgorilla.org.uk

For more information about how to get involved, or for details of how you can sponsor a gorilla, please contact Mike Kemp on mkemp@bristolzoo.org.uk or phone 0117 974 7328.