AL AIN // Lady, the lowland gorilla, who has died at the age of 41, had plenty of friends at Al Ain Zoo to keep her company after the death of her longtime partner 18 years ago.
After Maxi passed away from natural causes, Lady found comfort in watching her favourite TV show — Barney and Friends — and by mixing with other animals at the zoo.
She adopted a tan, long-eared rabbit who helped to keep her company in her enclosure. The pair would hang out together until late evening, and zookeepers are sure the friendship helped Lady deal with the loss of Maxi.
Her advancing years made it unlikely she would accept another gorilla, so she settled for the rabbit’s company instead.
She was the zoo’s oldest inhabitant, having arrived in the country at the age of 4 from Cameroon, and quickly became a firm favourite with keepers and visitors.
Lady moved to a new enclosure in 2002 where she had companions that included other rabbits and a wallaby.
One keeper had been caring for Lady since 2011 and considered her a friend.
“Whether she was with the staff or visitors, she was always part of the family here,” he said. “She recognised us as individuals.
“The primates are very intelligent and social animals, so they would interact with us. They need to be in a social group and Lady saw everyone working with her as part of her group.
“Lady would behave in a certain way with some of us, and would take a glass of water with some but not others.
“We never had any problems with her and the communication was done through body language and eye contact. She knew how we were feeling, and vice versa.”
One of Lady’s regular keepers believes she saw the other animals as her babies.
“She would groom the rabbit’s face and push it to go outside if she wanted to go out,” he said. “Everyone here will miss her greatly.”
A zoo spokesman said: “It is with sadness that Al Ain Zoo announces the passing away of perhaps its most loved animal, the lowland gorilla Lady.
“As a young infant, she was hand-reared by keepers. She was always well looked after and enjoyed being the centre of attention.”
Lowland gorillas, which are found across central Africa, can live to 30 or 40 in the wild and up to the age of 60 in captivity, although this is rare.
Lady was a popular attraction at the zoo and a stone memorial is now being planned for her.
A stone memorial is now being planned for Lady and zoologists are carrying out a post-mortem examination to find out how she died.
Al Ain Zoo is also home to Zulu and Himba, two African male leopards, and hosts workshops on its conservation programmes for rare species.
Officials at the zoo are now searching the globe for replacements so they can continue to use the gorilla enclosure, and hope to have at least two new animals in there by next year.
nwebster@thenational.ae
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
