Yangtse dolphin 'is extinct', a victim of economic explosion, the latest large mammal to go?

Guy the gorilla was a well-known feature of London Zoo. He was kept in a cage effectively in solitary confinement for life.

Guy was born 60 years ago and captured for the Paris Zoo when he was about a year old. He arrived at London Zoo in 1947, clutching a hot water bottle, on Guy Fawkes day .

A London Zoo favourite
Guy was one of London Zoo's best-loved animals and appeared on television many times. He eventually grew into a massive 240 kilogrammes (35 stone). Despite having a reputation among his keepers for a bad temper, Guy was known to carefully scoop up sparrows that entered his enclosure, peer at them and then let them go.

In 1978, Guy died of heart failure during an operation on his infected teeth. Natural History Museum head taxidermist at the time, Arthur Hayward, was given the task of modelling and mounting Guy's skin. After nearly nine months of painstaking work, the magnificent re-creation of Guy was put on display at the Natural History Museum in November 1982.

Years later Guy was taken out of public display and moved into the scientific study collections. He will now be on display in the Weird and Wonderful section of the redeveloped Weston Park Museum, opening on 14 October.

Lowland gorillas
Guy was a western lowland gorilla, Gorilla gorilla gorilla , from French Cameroon. Lowland gorillas are the world's largest primates and the males can weigh between 140 and 275 kilogrammes.

Lowland gorillas are on the IUCN Red list for endangered species , threatened mostly by destruction of their habitat . They live in family groups and despite their great size and strength they are gentle creatures, eating plants and sometimes insects.

It's a sad, sad world!!!!

You can help in a small way by clicking on http://rainforest.care2.com copy daily to save the rain forest, big cats, seals etc.

Jeanne, I can see that clicking a link for a good cause is better than doing plain nothing. However, it may send out the wrong message, which is, if you just hit this link often enough (or even donate money to the WWF or other charitable organisations dedicated to wildlife conservation) will make a difference--in my opinion, and here I'm going against the grain of common opinion, it will not.

I have in the past donated sizable sums (relative to my income) to various charities and organisations, e.g. who help clearing mines, provide tents and shelter for refugees, and so forth, only now to find out that I donated a pinch of salt to the ocean in the hope to change its salt content.

The clear message that needs to be sent out is that unless we drastically change our day-to-day behaviour, ie the way we buy, consume, and dispose of things, no amount of charitable good will will suffice to make a difference--clicking a link may groom our psyche for a moment, but it won't help the lasting survival of the Great Panda or the Blue Whale.

I find that if I donate to a charity, then I regularly receive requests for more. In other words, donations are used in administration and very little goes to where it is needed. I can't resist a collection box, however.
Though I do find that the Woodland Trust continues to accrete woods and plant more trees. It has just reclaimed a portion of Hainault Forest, near me.