Western lowland gorilla · No. 4 of 22
Bakari Takes the Disney Job
Animal Kingdom hires a successor to a silverback who ran the troop for 30 years.
The Deal
The Grades
Animal Kingdom
Replaced a 30-year institution with a silverback entering his prime. There is no better available profile at the position.
Saint Louis
Lost its silverback and immediately signed two young ones from Fort Worth. Coherent plan, but the gap year is real.
The Breakdown
Gino ran the Gorilla Falls troop for nearly three decades. When he died in September 2025, Animal Kingdom had the hardest opening in the sport to fill: a leadership job at a flagship franchise with a beloved predecessor and a watching public.
They hired a 21-year-old who had been waiting his turn. Bakari was born at Brookfield in 2005, moved to Saint Louis in 2011, and spent fifteen years there before this call came. Three organizations, one job title, and he got it at the age where silverbacks are entering their best years.
Saint Louis, for its part, did not sit still. Barely two weeks after Bakari left, they brought in Gus, 10, and Bukavu, 8, from Fort Worth to join their bachelor troop. That is a front office that traded a proven starter and immediately restocked the pipeline behind him.
