N.C. Zoo observes milestone anniversary on June 7

June 7, 2023 is the 50-year anniversary of the arrival of the first animals at the North Carolina Zoological Park in rural Randolph County. They were two female Galápagos Giant Tortoises that were named Tort and Retort.

 

North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Jim Hunt was there to greet the endangered reptiles in 1973.

 

The pair of 400-pound tortoises had hatched from eggs that belonged to Evelia Burr of Concord. (The species is native to the Galápagos Islands, which straddle the equator in the South Pacific Ocean, roughly 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.) 

The zoo held a “Name the Tortoises” contest. More than 2,000 entries were received. 

In the zoological arena, animals sometimes are moved around to other facilities. This was the case with Tort and Retort. Tort died in 2016 at age 60 at the St. Augustine (Fla.) Alligator Farm Zoological Park. (Retort’s whereabouts remains a mystery.) 

Much more is known about the zoo’s first gorilla. He was Ramar, and he came with a celebrity’s resume. He had appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” television program.

 

Ramar also starred in TV commercials for American Tourister luggage in 1970. The film crew gave Ramar a red suitcase to “play with.” 

He stomped on it, hurled it across his cage and banged it against the bars, walls and cement floor. Ramar utterly tried to destroy the prop. But the piece of luggage always won. 

Writing for Our State magazine, Michael Graff reported: “Ramar was funny. People liked Ramar. He showed personality. His face had expressions. He blinked. He walked upright. He grabbed things with opposable thumbs. He was different in that he was like us. People came from miles around to see him. He was the first star of the North Carolina Zoo.” 

“The zoo brought in several females to breed with Ramar. They did their best to woo him. But as personable as he was on television, he was standoffish about his first mate. He never showed interest in any of them,” Graff said.  

Ramar was “transferred” in 1998 to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where he eventually achieved romantic success. He sired several baby gorillas there before he died in 2018 at age 50. 

C’sar, a floppy-eared juvenile African elephant, arrived at the North Carolina Zoo in July 1978. “He grew up to become the zoo’s premier rock star,” reported the Winston-Salem Journal.

 

C’sar is scheduled to celebrate his 49th birthday this July. He is the oldest African elephant in all of North America, zoo officials say. C’sar stays fit by regularly practicing yoga with his trainers. 

Angus Mercer of Charlotte was seeking to build awareness for his construction equipment business in 1978, and his public relations consulting firm recommended that he sponsor an animal at the new North Carolina Zoo. It was a $12,000 investment. 

“I suggested a giraffe,” Mercer told the Journal reporter, “because I had my neck stuck so far out financing all the equipment to get the business going.” 

The PR firm responded: Go with an elephant. “The elephant has charisma. It has charm. It has all those wrinkles and those big ears and giant feet. And that trunk, deft enough to pick up a dime and strong enough to rip down a tree limb. People are mesmerized by elephants.”

 

Mercer agreed, and the elephant was to be named C’Sar (pronounced say-zahr), sort of an acronym for Mercer’s business – Contractors Service and Rentals. 

“We’ve always loved telling people we have an elephant in the family,” said Kathy Everidge, one of Mercer’s four daughters.