Talk:Ozzie (gorilla)

Volunteer?
Sorry for nitpicking, but how can a gorilla "volunteer" for anything? I'm sure gorillas are some of the most intelligent animals, but I don't think they have the reasoning ability to volunteer consciously. Volunteering requires that you understand the purpose of volunteering and make an informed decision to contribute to that goal. I'm not sure if even if someone presents all the information about the blood pressure test to a group of gorillas and asks for volunteers, there is true human-like volunteering going on there, even if it looks just the same. There is no scientific evidence that gorillas are capable of truly conscious complex reasoning like humans (and if they were, we would be in trouble...). So perhaps this is an unfortunate word choice. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.207.156.90 (talk) 12:21, 27 January 2022 (UTC)
 * That was my thought in reading this article. The gorilla was trained to do this, to say that it volunteered implies that any trained animal volunteers to engage in trained behavior.  I'm guessing the same terminology would not be applied to Orcas at Seaworld.Troodon311 (talk) 15:05, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

Specific age
I was trying to resolve the age issue, because the article currently both asserts "c. 1961" and a specific birth date, and the press release from Zoo Atlanta says "died at 61" but the specific date in the article, ultimately tracked back to Zoo Atlanta socials, would put the age at death at 60. I am not sure how to resolve this in the best manner possible. ~Cheers, Ten  Ton  Parasol  16:09, 27 January 2022 (UTC)
 * The challenge is that he was wild-born so his DOB is an estimate. I suspect the Zoo celebrated his birthday using the month he arrived at Yerkes. TJMSmith (talk) 16:37, 28 January 2022 (UTC)
 * So, I imagine it might be best to do "he celebrated his 60th birthday" (or, rather, the zoo celebrated) instead of "he turned" to resolve the contradiction in the article atm? ~Cheers, Ten  Ton  Parasol  17:21, 28 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I tweaked it. Feel free to adjust! TJMSmith (talk) 18:30, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

Oldest gorilla
There is one that is 66 years old in a zoo in Germany - see https://www.voanews.com/a/world-s-oldest-known-gorilla-turns-66-at-berlin-zoo/7049089.html. Either way I think wikipedia should not claim that Ozzie was the oldest, but instead AMONG the oldest, and then the gorilla in Germany also be mentioned - ideally on a new wikipedia page e. g. age of gorillas. 2A02:8388:1641:4980:0:0:0:7 (talk) 20:25, 15 April 2023 (UTC)