Evening star., 1932-03-07
'Mamma" Comes Back to Little OKerO
MRS MARTIN JOHNSON ATTENDING SICK BABY GORILLA AT

MkS. MAkIlN
TITLE OKERO, the 2-year-old
gorilla at the Zoo, who developed
bronchial pneumonia Saturday,
IL was being placed in an oxygen
chamber today
N'Gi, the 6-year-old gorilla in the
next cage, was sufficiently improved to
dispense with the intensive oxygen
treatment. He will be watched care
fully for any turn for the worse which
will call for restoration of the oxygen.
O'kero. according to William H
Blackburn. head keeper. seemed much
more lively this morning after day of
''mothering" from Mrs. Martin john
son.
Meantime more trouble developed in
the old, leaking lion house which now
looks strikingiy like the ward Of hos
pital, with Mhite-robed doctors con-
stantly making their rounds. tables
loaded with medicine bottles, the faint
ooor of aneSthetics in the air, attend
ants jotting down reports of the tenn
perature and pulse rate of the sick. and
patients propDed up in bed The deadly
cold germs seem to have spread among
the great apes, who are very susceptible
to them in spite of the extreme precau-
tions taken since N'Gi was first stricken.
Chimpanzee Is Jealous.
Teddy, the 3-year old chimpanzee,
who was brought from Africa by the
Johnsons and has been O'Kero's cage
mate and close pal since the two have
been at the Zoo had a cold this morn
ing That has been the first alarming
sign among the gorillas. AS soon as
O'Kero's condition was diagnosed sat
urday Teddy was removed from the
cage and has been disconsolate ever
since Yesterday he showed extreme
jealousy at the attention being paid
OKero. Only after the Johnsons had
spent some time with the gorilla did
they turn to Teddy, and only after they
had taken proper precautions to dis
infect themselves so as not to carry
any cold germs into his cage.
The development of Teddy's cold this
morning led to the decision to restore
him to OKero's cage so that ne also
can have the benefit of the oxygen.
Little coal-black O'Kero-his name Is
supposed to be a native word meaning
"snowball'-lay listless in the straw on
the floor of his cage all yesterday
morning.
He was aroused about noon by a
woman'S voice outside his cage calling
his name There was something about
the voice that must have aroused in
O'Keros dim consciousness memories Of
far-ofT. happier days He stood up
painfully, clutching the iron bars, and
looked at the visitor
Dances and Whimpers.
Then the woman put on suit Of
blue pa jamas over her dress. The little
gorillas memory revived. He began to
dance about and whimper. Mrs. Martin
Johnson had worn those pajamas back
in the gorilla-land mountains. when
Okero was a very small, sick baby
being rocked to sleep in her arms. She
went into the cage. O'kero threw his
long black arms around her neck. She
gathered the small black body in her
arms and began walking about the cage.
grooming old baby songs to the sick
infant He nestled against her breast,
perfectly happy. Then she sat down in
the straw and Okero seemed to fall
asleep in her lap.
But it was d sleep from which he
was easily wakened. Every time Mrs.
johnson tried to lay him down and
leave the cage he reused himself and
protested vigorously. Once he jumped
up and held the door, so that she could
not open it. Finally Mr.. johnson man.
aged to relieve his wife of O'kero and
held him for a few minutes. But Mrs.
Johnson soon returned to the cage and
remained most of the afternoon holding
the little black baby.
Mrs. johnson is mamma" to Okero.
She told for the first time yesterday
the details of how he came into her
possession and the days of his baby
hood which account for the close at
tachment which led her to take the
earliest train out of New York yester-
day with a bag filled with the delica cies
O'kero loved when he was very little
and articles which she knew from ex-
perience were necessary in nursing sick
gorillaS
Appeals for Her Help.
1t was back in the Summer of 1890.
The Johnsons had just come out of
the high mountains of gorilla Land, "
or the vast Albert National Park in the
northeast part of the Belgian Congo.
where they had been making moving
picture of the great apes in their
forest h, bitat. They had captured two
gorillas unGer a permit from the Bel
gian government and had them in the
back Of their car. They stopped the
car in front of a native house The
owner came out with a Wriggling black
object held by the Scruff of the neck,
whimpering and its head covered with
blood. 1t was gorilla-only about
two months o.d. The native wanted to
sell it for l 1000 francs. Mr.. johnson
did not want it. He already had all the
gorillas he would be allowed to take
out of the country
But while he was trying to explain
to the native that he would not pur
chace the animal. little O'kero had
stretched out It's arms to Mrs. Johnson
and she had taken him in her lap.
The plight of the helpless little crea-
ture so appealed to her heart that she
insisted her husband purchase it and
her appeals finally won him over
although he faced reluctantly the COM
plications that might be involved.
She laid O'kero on the seat beside
her and covered him with a blanket
In few minutes he was fast asleep
At the first stopping place the john
sons obtained nursing bottle for him
and dressed the bloody wound on his
head. Mrs. Johnson pointed to the
healed scar yesterday. For months
before he was able to eat much solid
food. Slowly he began to put on flesh
and be playful and mischievous. BY
the end of the year he was able to
toddle around the house the Johnsons
rented in Nairobi Mrs Johnson re-
called yesterday the struggle she had
every night to get him to bed. O'kero
would insist on sitting up with the
family. He had his favorite rocking
chair in the living room. When bed
time approached he would squat in this
chair and stubbornly resist all efforts
to remove him. Finally he would begin
to nod and his little black head would
fall on his chest. Then Mrs. Johnson
could pick him up without waking him
and put him in his box.
Always First to Awake.
Okero was always the first one up in
the morning He would go straight to
the room of his master and mistress