Charles the Gorilla is a wild-born western lowland gorilla from Gabon, West Africa. Although the date of his birth is unknown his approximate date of birth is September 23, 1972; it is, however, celebrated on January 19 each year. At a time when humans were less vigilant about their treatment of threatened and endangered species, Charles was sought after by a group of poachers interested in acquiring gorillas for international trade. (At the time, gorilla infants could fetch a price of up to $5000.00.) He is thought to have been found lying next to the corpse of his dead mother. Toronto Zoo On September 24, 1974, Charles was sent to the Toronto Zoo, where he has lived ever since. His name was given to him because his particularly round face reminded the staff at the zoo of Charlie Brown. When Charles was first brought to the zoo, he was considered rather unattractive because he was missing part of his hair and had lesions and/or sores that bespeckled his body. Charles, along with Amanda, Barney, Caroline, Josephine, Julia and Samantha, were part of the Toronto Zoo's first acquisition of a group of wild-caught gorillas for the newly opened zoo. The Toronto Zoo opened its doors in August 1974 and since then some 33 million visitors have seen the zoo's gorillas (a figure which grows by about a million people each year). This group of seven gorillas has conceived over 33 children and are represented by more than 23 living offspring, comprising three generations. As of 2018, Charles has sired sixteen children, of which ten still survive today. He also has six grandchildren. Artwork Charles is an accomplished painter. Although the group had always been exposed to the visual arts, Charles' niche for the medium sprung up as a result of behavioural enrichment during a turbulent time in the gorilla group's stay at the Toronto Zoo. During a period of time between 1990 and 1998, Charles (now a well-sized Silverback male) was not interested in interacting with offspring that were not his own. And so in an effort to allow the gorilla group to meet with some of the zoo's other gorilla progeny (i.e., Barney's children), Charles spent a brief period of each day in solitude. In an effort to keep Charles contented during these intervals away from his harem, Charles was given access to large sheets of paper and non-toxic coloured