‘Infinite Loneliness’: the life and times of Miss Congo

The arrival of Miss Congo, a female mountain gorilla, in America provided the opportunity for a scientific study of the mental abilities of our close cousin. Since the mid-nineteenth century, gorillas had captivated the imagination of the public and scientific community alike. In 1925, psychobiologist Robert Mearns Yerkes was thrilled to gain access to such a rare primate specimen. Yerkes’ study of ‘The Mind of a Gorilla’ reveals how our enduring fascination with the gorilla is driven by conflicting desires to demonstrate our connection with and distance from our fellow great apes.