Disney's The One and Only Ivan is based on the true story of a gorilla who lived inside a mall for 27 years, and learned how to paint.
Disney's new movie The One and Only Ivan is inspired on the true story of a western lowland gorilla who lived inside a shopping mall for 27 years. Directed by Allison Shearmur, the film is an adaptation of Katherine Applegate's book of the same name, which itself is a largely fictionalized retelling of Ivan's story told from the perspective of the animals.
The real story is rather more sad. Although there was initially a small zoo of animals at the B&I Circus Store where Ivan lived, public opinion about animals in captivity had already started to shift by the mid-1970s. According to a retrospective on Ivan's life by his former owner, Ron Irwin, most of the animals in the mall had already been sent to new homes by 1980. Ivan, however, was a lot harder to place, because zoos already had a surplus of male gorillas. Eventually he was the only animal attraction left, and lived a lonely life in his small concrete room.
The B&I Circus Store filed for bankruptcy in 1992, and the previous year a documentary called The Urban Gorilla
Ivan's Capture and Early Life
When pressed by baby elephant Ruby, Ivan tells the story of his time in the wild and his capture in The One and Only Ivanvery reluctantly agreed
Burma got sick and died shortly after her arrival in Tacoma, Washington. Ivan was taken in by a family called the Johnstons, who owned a pet store in the B&I, and was raised in their home for three years, until he became too big and unruly to be a family pet. History Link reports that he caused an estimated $17,000 in damages to the Johnstons' home before finally being moved to his cage at the B&I in 1967.
Ivan's Real Owner Was Earl Irwin
In The One and Only Ivan
After failing to find a zoo that would take Ivan, Ron Irwin spent more than a decade trying to find a female gorilla so that Ivan could at least have some company at the B&I. In The Urban Gorillaalmost impossible
How Ivan Learned To Paint
Efforts were made to try and make Ivan's day-to-day life less mundane. Local anthropologist Bob Daugherty began volunteering his time to do enrichment exercises with Ivan. In The Urban GorillaWith Ivan, I tried to do anything which breaks up the routine of his day. I try to come up with ideas that catch him by surprise, that stimulate him
This form of enrichment is often used with gorillas in captivity, since the species has shown an aptitude for painting. When Ivan was later transferred to Zoo Atlanta he continued to paint. There, the keepers use PVC paintbrushes that can be used through the wires of the gorilla cage, but widen towards the end so that they couldn't be pulled all the way through. The keepers will hold up a canvas and the gorilla manipulates the paintbrush to smear paint around. In a Zoo Atlanta video reflecting on Ivan's time with them, assistant curator Jodi Carrigan remarks that Ivan was the only gorilla who could actually be given a canvas and would paint instead of breaking it. His favorite color to paint with was red.
Ivan's Move To Zoo Atlanta
The release of The Urban Gorilla
Unlike his emotional release at the end of The One and Only Ivan
According to Zoo Atlanta Ivan eventually adjusted and became social with a group of female gorillas. He was observed mating with a female called Kinyani, but never sired any offspring, and when Kinyani was transferred to another zoo 16 years later, Ivan "hardly seemed to noticeThe One and Only Ivan