LIFE Goes on a ‘Gorilla Hunt,’ 1951

2 minute read
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Subduing gorilla, a half-grown female weighing 70 pounds, requires the strength of Bill Said (white man at left), his assistant, John Biname (right), and several natives. Trick in capturing small gorillas is to get them by throat or by one arm and back of head in order to pin them down and keep them from biting."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
By Liz Ronk

In November 1951, LIFE magazine published an article titled “LIFE Goes on a Gorilla Hunt.” The tone of the story — which focused on a 26-year-old American gorilla-hunter named Bill Said, who supplied the great primates to zoos and research labs around the world — would be unthinkable today, when so many gorilla populations in much of Africa are critically endangered. (There are, for example, only about 800 mountain gorillas left in their Central African territory across Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.)

But in the early 1950s, when the notion of “endangered species” was not widely shared — the U.S. didn’t enact its Endangered Species Act until 1973 — the focus of the “Gorilla Hunt” feature in LIFE was mainly on “the bloody and terribly dangerous business” of capturing gorillas alive, and not on the precarious state of the gorilla in the wild. The article did state that the huge, 450-pound male killed during Said’s expedition (see slide #1) “was shy and would not have bothered to attack a human without provocation.” But, the article also made plain, “Said is often forced to kill all of the adult gorillas on the chance of capturing one or two marketable young ones.”

[See a LightBox photo essay: “Saving Congo’s Gorillas.”]

From a purely technical perspective, the pictures featured in this gallery, by LIFE’s Eliot Elisofon, are remarkable in their own right. As chronicles of a specific time, meanwhile, and of a largely outmoded attitude toward both the natural world and to non-Western cultures, Elisofon’s photos are invaluable tools for helping us see how far we’ve come — and how far we have yet to go — in our quest to leave something of the raw, beautiful natural world behind for our children, and their children.

[Find out more about Eliot Elisofon’s remarkable work in Africa and his great love for the continent by visiting the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.]

This 450-pound "garcon," as the alpha male gorillas were known in French Equatorial Africa, was killed protecting his family, 1951.
This 450-pound "garcon," as the alpha male gorillas were known in French Equatorial Africa, was killed protecting his family, 1951.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Beating bush, natives hunt for baby gorilla which had fallen when the tree in which it was hiding was cut down. It was finally found under a limb with its arm broken. It was fed on a bottle and survived."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Tied up, another young female submits only when she is too weak to struggle further. Taken back to village, she died that night from the effects of her battle."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Caged in a basket made of boughs, young gorilla at top of page (see slide 15) is carried to the village. This was the only one in the entire family taken alive in perfect condition."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Loading a truck onto a ferry to cross a river, French Equatorial Africa, 1951.
Loading a truck onto a ferry to cross a river, French Equatorial Africa, 1951.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A truck ferried on a river during a gorilla hunt, 1951.
A truck ferried on a river during a gorilla hunt, 1951.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A dead gorilla, photographed during a 1951 hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
A dead gorilla, photographed during a 1951 hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Subduing gorilla, a half-grown female weighing 70 pounds, requires the strength of Bill Said (white man at left), his assistant, John Biname (right), and several natives. Trick in capturing small gorillas is to get them by throat or by one arm and back of head in order to pin them down and keep them from biting."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Trussed-up [gorilla] is carried on poles back to village with Bill Said walking alongside."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Caption from LIFE. "Baby gorilla named Bobo is held by native youngster. Bobo lost weight and was very sick after capture. but Said is now nursing him back to health."Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Scene from a 1951 gorilla hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Dead gorillas displayed after a 1951 hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Dead gorillas displayed after a 1951 hunt in what was then French Equatorial Africa.Eliot Elisofon—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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