This week, 60 gorillas have appeared on the streets of Bristol and further afield. From Bedminster to Avonmouth with one stuck in Birmingham coach station, the gorillas have already made themselves very much at home. They are here as part of Bristol Zoo’s Wow! Gorillas, a public art event held to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the zoo, to raise money for charity and to support gorilla consevation projects in the wild.
Pokemon-style, gotta catch ’em all. So after a bit of hunting, here they all are:
Bristol Wow Gorilla 1: The S Express, Narrow Quay
Bristol Wow Gorilla 2: Priscilla, M Shed
Bristol Wow Gorilla 3: Sabyinyo, Millennium Square
Bristol Wow Gorilla 4: My Kind of Bristol, Millennium Square
Bristol Wow Gorilla 5: Sky Gorilla, Anchor Square
Bristol Wow Gorilla 6: Blue, Crest Nicholson marketing suite, Harbourside
Bristol Wow Gorilla 7: Seeing Me Seeing You, Hargreaves Lansdown, Anchor Road
Bristol Wow Gorilla 8: Grievesey, College Green
Bristol Wow Gorilla 9: Willard, Marriott Hotels
Bristol Wow Gorilla 10: Distinctly Different, Cascade Steps
Bristol Wow Gorilla 11: Bradisson, Radisson Blu Hotel
Bristol Wow Gorilla 12: Apple of My Eye, Centre promenade
Bristol Wow Gorilla 13: Splodge, Colston Hall
Bristol Wow Gorilla 14: Cheeky Check-Up, Thunderbolt Square
Bristol Wow Gorilla 15: Going Going Gorilla, Queen Square
Bristol Wow Gorilla 15 (Mark 2): Going Going Gorilla, Queen Square
Bristol Wow Gorilla 16: Fade to Black, The Grove
Bristol Wow Gorilla 17: Blackbeardorilla, King Street
Bristol Wow Gorilla 18: Crystal Eyes, Stanfords
Bristol Wow Gorilla 19: Super G Downhill Racer, St Nicholas Market
Bristol Wow Gorilla 20: Aja, Thistle Grand Hotel
Bristol Wow Gorilla 21: The Forest Within, Castle Park
Bristol Wow Gorilla 22: Wow Bristol, The Podium Broadmead
Bristol Wow Gorilla 23: 24 Carot Camo, The Galleries
Bristol Wow Gorilla 24: Gert Collaberilla, Horsefair Broadmead
Bristol Wow Gorilla 25: Elvis, Bristol Bus Station
Bristol Wow Gorilla 26: Hubert, Holiday Inn City Centre
Bristol Wow Gorilla 27: Zoo Keeper, Quakers Friars
Bristol Wow Gorilla 28: Gorilla Skelana, Cabot Circus
Bristol Wow Gorilla 29: Ape Scape, Bristol Airport
Bristol Wow Gorilla 30: Mondo, Evening Post building
Bristol Wow Gorilla 31: Tensor, Temple Church Garden
Bristol Wow Gorilla 32: Jama, Temple Back East
Bristol Wow Gorilla 33: Goram, Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Wow Gorilla 34: Little Fluffy Clouds, St Mary Redcliffe Church
Bristol Wow Gorilla 35: Gorilla Shape Bristol Fashion, Grain Barge
Bristol Wow Gorilla 36: Blackbeard Silverback, Arnos Vale Cemetery
Bristol Wow Gorilla 37: Suebo, North Street Green
Bristol Wow Gorilla 38: Spider Monkey, North Street
Bristol Wow Gorilla 39: Alfred, Ashton Gate
Bristol Wow Gorilla 40: Winston, Avon Gorge Hotel
Bristol Wow Gorilla 41: Kingdom, The Mall Gardens
Bristol Wow Gorilla 42: Lipstick on the Gorilla, The Promenade
Bristol Wow Gorilla 43: Gorisambard, Clifton Suspension Bridge
Bristol Wow Gorilla 44: Noah, Bristol Zoo
Bristol Wow Gorilla 45: Percival, Clifton College
Bristol Wow Gorilla 46: Midnight Shok, Clifton Down Shopping Centre
Bristol Wow Gorilla 47: Custard, BBC Bristol
Bristol Wow Gorilla 48: Banana Shirt, Victoria Rooms
Bristol Wow Gorilla 49: Pattern Gorilla, City Museum & Art Gallery
Bristol Wow Gorilla 50: Reaching Out, Waitrose Westbury Park
Bristol Wow Gorilla 51: Irene, Gloucester Road
Bristol Wow Gorilla 52: Telula, The Mall at Cribbs Causeway
Bristol Wow Gorilla 53: Sunny, Currys Cribbs Causeway
Bristol Wow Gorilla 54: Old Man of the Forest, Costco Avonmouth (thanks to Madame Guillotine)
Bristol Wow Gorilla 55: Severn Bore, between Underbanks and Watch House Road, Pill
Bristol Wow Gorilla 56: Still Life Alfred, Bath Road
Bristol Wow Gorilla 57: Endangered PJs, Bitton station
Bristol Wow Gorilla 58: Funky Gibbon, Chipping Sodbury Baptist church (thanks to Lily Green)
Bristol Wow Gorilla 59: I Spy Gorilla, Slimbridge Wetland Centre (with thanks to Sally Munro)
Bristol Wow Gorilla 60: Guerilla Tourist, Birmingham coach station
Some thoughts: I think this is a brilliant and very well-executed idea, but one with a stupid name. I had great fun locating all of the gorillas, like a citywide treasure hunt. I hope none of the gorillas get vandalised, but I’m not hopeful. It’s a shame that more areas of Bristol have not been included on the locations, which have a very city centre bias. Why has the gorilla in Queen Square not been painted? QR codes could have been included on the plinths to add a more interactive element to the search. The locations have been well thought-out, utilising well-trodden thoroughfares as well as a few off the beaten track; apart from the gorilla in the window of Stanfords. The most colourful or humourous gorillas are definitely the best. I look forward to seeing many gorillas in the entrance lobbies of Bristol businesses once the event is over.
My top-ten favourites (in numerical order): Bradisson by Laura Cramer, Fade to Black by Inkie, Blackbeardorilla by Christopher Taylor, Elvis by Martin Band, Jama by Laura Pickering, Blackbeard Silverback by Jane Veveris Callan, Spider Monkey by Christopher Wood, Gorisambard by Tim Miness, Noah by Samuel Lindup and Irene by Emily Trotter.
With thanks to my bicycle for propelling me around the Bristol gorilla hunt.Â
Bristol Culture 
My fave is Cheeky Check-Up cos Gorilla looks so happy! Plus I had not heard of Thunderbolt Square til now. Remember the painted cows in Manchester? So pleased that Bristol is doing something so brilliant too. My family and I will be Gorilla hunting – an ace family activity. Thanks to you and your bike for sharing.
i liked cheeky check-up but i couldnt say it was my favourite
I like Cheeky Check-Up as well, one of a few to cause me to chuckle out loud. My first experience of this kind of thing was when I lived in Salamanca in Spain for a year between 2002 and 2003. As part of their European City of Culture activities, they had colourful bulls everywhere for a few months: http://www.eico.net/paseoentretoros/. My friends and I always used to meet by the ‘Euro bull’ in the Plaza Mayor, painted in the EU flag.
Thanks for these well detailed locations and pics…i too am on a mission to personally photograph all 60 Large Gorillas (i daren’t start the 100 smaller ones!)
I started out today and managed to get 24 in the space of 2 hours (mainly thanks to your page which i used to list them before i set out, as im not good with maps so the map provided by the zoo wasnt particularly helpful to me!)
Hope you manage to get the remaining ones for your collection too.
I was sad to see the Going Going Gorilla in queens square has already been vandalised. What a shame that everyone can’t just enjoy them, without feeling the need to spoil their beauty.
I just love this……….fantastic public art……..I hope the gorillas are around a long time
Aw, I love them! Can’t choose a favourite, but I think it’s a great public art concept. Perhaps I should take up the challenge of snapping them all 🙂
The one in Queens Square IS painted – with a heat sensitive paint. Touch it and see what happens!
Excellent! A really nice thing for Bristol to do. I intend to visit them all. I particularly like the one in Costco (Old Man of The Forest no.54) which has some lovely detail that the photo here doesn’t do justice. I intend to buy one for my back garden when they come up for auction.
i have spotted some that are not on here yet how do i put pics on?
i’m up to 40 now…doing well. still need to take that trip to birmingham for #60…gotta be done tho :o)
I love the gorilla in the Baptist Church, Chipping Sodbury. He certainly brightens up the area and makes everyone smile as you walk past.
Me and my family got a challenge going great fun and yes we too are on the gorilla hunt. Thankgod for this page lol
I got to a mother and baby college called the meriton and we just decorated a baby gorilla it looks so amazing can’t wait to see it in its new place…
I love things like this! I didn’t know it was happening! I’d love to go and see these. I’ve seen events like this happen in London and Madrid before but with different animals.
Some of the Gorillas are inside of building’s that are important 🙂
I’ve had a happy weekend gorilla tracking, thank you for sharing your photos of them all – makes it much easier to label all the photos when I got home. 35 so far, 25 to go!
Oh, and a huge “Thank you!” to all the people of Bristol who have taken photos of me and a gorilla.
Love the gorillas. Favourites are in Milennium Square and Thunderbolt Square (which I too had never heard of). I’m off to Birmingham next week to photograph number sixty. Sad??
u just gone to birmingham for that !
100 little ones plus ment to be three hidden big ones so good luck
i too shall be travelling to birmingham…ÂŁ9 coach return for a photo of a gorilla! ur not the only mad one around here John Hawkes, lol!! i only have birmingham, slimbridge, and chipping sodbury left to do now…then who knows, might i allow myself to start on the small ones? watch this space…!
rovers one rocks going on the hunt next week can not wait yaaaay !
Just visiting Bristol to see friends, I was taken aback by the gorillas and tried to finding as many as I could no knowing about this website till afterwards! Would love to get pictures of them all but sadly, I don’t live in Bristol so may have to enlist friends to help.
Question though – having walked around harbour festival today, there was a gorilla on the bow of the Matthew that was sailing up and down the harbour but it doesn’t look like any of the 60 on your list! Is this a secret gorilla??!
Love the idea though – really colourful and unique!
Doris was a late entry,there`s a page on a website explaining why…google “Doris the WOW Gorilla” (or similar) and you should find it.
🙂
This is the webpage on this very website: https://bristolculture.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/doris-secret-bristol-wow-gorilla/
heyya like my facebook page Bristol gorilla hunt plz
Secret Gorilla from the matthew is called Doris,
it’s the new figurehead…
WELL DONE BRISTOL.
OURS WAS ONLY A SHORT VISIT FROM LINCOLNSHIRE BUT WE ENJOYED HUNTING THEM DOWN AND PHOTOGRAPHING THEM. WE TOO SPOTTED THE ONE ON THE BOW OF THE SHIP…..BUT MUST HAVE WALKED RIGHT PAST THE ONE AT THE RADISSON. GREAT CITY GREAT VISIT.
woohoo! just slimbridge and birmingham left to do 🙂
We are enjoying the gorilla hunt and wanted to wish the lady we met on the Suspension Bridge yesterday all the very best with her ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats. We took your picture by “Gorisambard Kingdom Brunel” one! Wish I had asked your name and then we could have tracked your progress on Facebook – so if you are reading this would be good to hear from you!
have you found the secret 61st gorilla yet?
clue…its on a famous bristol boat
saw it at the harbour fest
Caught her this morning from Hotwells Road,thanks to a 70-300 lens…lol 🙂
The one down Bitton station is my favourite place to go !! I do hope I see him, I was too focused on the giant slab of cake in front of me *Grins*
my favourite is spider monkey north street but i saw a rare one actually on a boat
Saw my 60th this morning at Arnos Vale (one of the prettiest). Now I can get back to the real world?
Bristol Zoo should do a mini gorilla painting activity at the zoo, where children can go and design their own for a fee, that they can keep. This has been a fantastic adventure with the family looking for these Gorilla’s – My daughter (4yrs) actually squeezed between the signs in Stanford’s to hug the Gorilla (Which was a terrible place to put him, as the glass doesn’t allow great pics, and the kids can’t really get close to him).. We have really enjoyed looking for them all though and it was timed perfectly with the school holidays. 🙂 We all had a superb time, my favourite was the brown one in the middle of Queens Square, although I’m sure I’ll love Irene when we go to see it today..
i have just got back from birmingham and i was in the bus station and i had my phoyo taken with the Guerilla Tourist, and bbc points west were asking for photos so i sent my photo in and it got published such a shame i wasnt around to watch it live i had to catch up on bbc i player
bath pigs was the best :’)
well you got out just in time Jordan, what with all these riots. and now having spread to bristol, im wondering how many gorillas will even be left for auction by the time these scum have finished destroying our country!
love these they brighten up my day every time i see one!
I don’t know which is my fave! I love Custard just because it’s pudsey bear! These are really good. I’m not from around Bristol so I went and these were a lovely touch to the visit! They would not last in Leeds!
was at the balloon fiesta yesterday and a bristol zoo staff was there. i asked her about them displaying them all in bristol, and she said they will all be on display in bristol zoo from 7th september for 2 weeks, and the auction is taking place on 29th september in the Victoria Rooms (top of park street). good for those of us who cant make it to birmingham and slimbridge!
That`s good to know.I was going to photograph 1 to 59 and 61,post them on my Facebook page along with a photograph of an NE Coach marked up for Birmingham…lol
lol!!!!! thats a smart idea. but i found out that from 7th september for 2 weeks they will ALL be on display at bristol zoo. the auction is 29th at the victoria rooms
These are cool.
I have started taking photos of them as well – almost got them all!
check out my site:
http://BristolGorillas.co.uk
Doris is not the only secret Gorilla. Also look out for one in the shower in the bathroom shop opposite QEH, and one in the flower shop in Clifton Down Shopping Centre
That`s number 46 & 19 respectively of the the Mini Gorillas…too many for me to seek out lol
Just a shame that Stanfords doesn`t allow you to go into the shop and take a photograph,the shop assistants make you stand outside the window…that could do with a decent clean
I think you will find they are not secret gorillas, they are mini gorillas.
I`ve just tried telephoning Bristol Zoo to get confirmation about the WOW Gorilla “Reunion” in September.Surprised to say that as it`s saturday,the reception is busy but they do have a menu,ah ha,press 5 for “Events”…”To heard about easter and meeting the Easter Bunny…..”
Come on Bristol Zoo/Bristol City Council,wake up and update!!
Sat here tidying up my photos before posting them on my Fakebook page.Seems Blackbeardgorilla doesn`t like having his photograph taken as I`ve got a few that seem out of focus,anyone else had this problem or is it just me?…lol
Great pictures and remember to post your favourite Wow! Gorillas pictures to the photo competition on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/wowgorillas
I had the good fortune to visit Bristol two weekends ago to see a very good friend of mine. The Gorillas were everywhere!! I lost count of how many I saw in the end but I would say at least 20 by the time we had finished! I had a great time and the Gorillas added to the enjoyment! Hopefully I will be able to make another visit before they disappear!! Such a great way to remember such an enjoyable time! I want one for my garden!!! I think i would go for no. 24!!
[…] projects worldwide. There are photos of them all on the already mentioned and splendid Bristol Culture website, but here’s one I took myself by Isombard Kingdom Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge. […]
The WOW! Gorilla’s have been amazing.
Entertaining the kids this summer has been a very easy task – all they have wanted to do it hunt the gorilla’s. We especially appreciated that we didn’t have to pay anything to see them (other than bus fare and petrol that is!).
We have found 60 which is pretty good going. We’re not going to Birmingham for the 61st though! Not sure for the reason for being so far away, but if it was to encourage tourists to Bristol, surely one should have gone to each of the bigger cities in England (London, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburg, Dublin, etc)?
Auctioning them off is a great way to make money for charity too. It will be interesting to see how much they go for and which one is most popular.
I thought the art work on Nelson Street was a good idea but it hasn’t been popular with everyone. At least the gorillas seemed to have had a very positive response. I hope Bristol thinks up something just as fun and interesting as the gorillas next year. I’m sure they have helped Bristol’s businesses and tourism.
Well done Bristol you were luckier than Weston-super-Mare we had four of our donkey’s vandalized so the organisers took them off the streets. about 20 can be found in secure venues but the whole idea of diplaying all 40 round the town for everyone to enjoy( particularly the children) had to be scrapped thanks to a few mindless toe rags who thought that destroying hours of work,quite a lot of money, to say nothing of the organisation was ” a bit of a larf.” Well we dunnit cos we can gov and you cant do nuffink abowt it”
see a good idea, steal it (elephantparade.com)
There’s another Gorilla that the University bought for the new biological sciences building. Doesn’t seem to be on the list. He’s called Going Going Gone and is heat sensitive to hand prints:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2011/7948.html/2011-10-06.1523699014/image
Actually just saw he is there just not painted yet.
that’s the one that was in Queen Square. It had been painted while it was on display there in the summer (it was placed there unpainted initially)…i have photos of both stages on that one)
I really love Fading to Black x
[…] CLICK HERE TO HAVE A LOOK AT THE DESIGNS […]
Hi, there is one on Stamfords bookshop – I have a photo of it.
or
Yes, I also spotted Maporilla in his natural habitat last week: https://bristolculture.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/maporilla-wow-gorilla-arrives-at-stanfords-bristol/
Do you realise that these gorillas are a most heinous act of blatant plagiarism. They are a straightforward THEFT of the idea of the Berlin bears which have stood around that genuinely great city for over a decade:
http://www.sobi.org/photos/places/Berlin/bears/index.html
Actually, it’s ironically apt that Bristol chose gorillas for their rip-off:Not just because Bristol is always trying to “ape” real European cities but because they represent how the British are seen when abroad: simian!
Bristol will never be squat until it is run…if ever…by people who wil emphasise its real virtues and not keep pretending its somewhere ele…like Paris or Berlin. But I guess that this kind of racket wont cease, theres too much money involved, public rate money going to publc relations companies who return “perks” to their friends at the council.
First of all, congratulations of getting a bite.
Secondly, I think you need to look up the definition of plagiarism before making silly comments.
At no point did they claim to have invented the idea… Newport did a similar event using dragons, before Bristol, and also Liverpool too, unless I’m mistaken.
In what way does Bristol attempt to imitate other big European cities, other than trying to promote itself the same way everyone else does?
Care to explain to us Bristolians what our ‘real virtues’ are?
Maybe we shouldn’t bother trying anything slightly creative or entertaining to residents and their families for fear of ‘Ziggy Soyler’ objecting it.