Gorilla claik

Two lowland gorillas enjoying the claik (Scots word for gossip) in the Zoology Museum at Aberdeen University.

The skeletons were originally housed in The Aberdeen University Anatomy Museum and it is likely that they were obtained by Sir John Struthers who was Regius Professor in Anatomy at Aberdeen from 1863-1889. The place where the animals were collected is unknown and it is unknown whether they were wild or zoo animals.

Sir John stressed the comparative approach in his teaching of human anatomy and to help him do this he built up a large collection of mammalian skeletal material, including an Indian elephant and a number of large whales, all of which can still be seen in the Zoology Museum.