Photo courtesy of Amanda Carberry, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Bonobos (Unga and Gander)
Bonobos Gander (left) and his mother Unga (right)
The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Come From Away tells the remarkable true story of 7,000 airline passengers unexpectedly stranded in the small town of Gander on the island of Newfoundland, Canada, when 38 planes from around the globe were rerouted to its airport during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The planes also contained several animals, one of which was a bonobo, an endangered great ape named Unga, who was traveling from Belgium to her new home at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
On Sunday, December 5, PNC Broadway in Columbus and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium will present Bonobos to Broadway, a special event at the Columbus Zoo’s Africa Event Center featuring a panel discussion.
The panel will include Bonnie Harris, manager of the Gander and Area Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that helped care for Unga during her time in Gander, Audra Meinelt, curator of the Columbus Zoo’s Congo Expedition region, Petrina Bromley, the actress who originated the role of Bonnie Harris on Broadway and producer of Come From Away, Sue Frost. During the discussion, they will talk about the show, Unga and the five days she spent in Gander.
From 2:30-3 p.m., event guests may attend a special Keeper Chat in the bonobo area of the Congo Expedition region. The Bonobos to Broadway panel discussion will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Africa Event Center.
Tickets for PNC Broadway in Columbus subscribers and Columbus Zoo members are $40, and tickets for the general public are $45. Tickets can be purchased online at ColumbusZoo.org. Zoo admission prior to the event and parking are included. Light, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be available.
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Come From Away plays the Ohio Theatre February 8-13, 2022. Tickets start at $39 and can be purchased in-person at the CBUSArts Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), online at www.capa.com or by phone at (614) 469-0939.
About Unga
Unga was born at the Wild Animal Park Mechelen Planckendael (Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp) in Belgium on February 22, 1993. She passed away from heart disease on March 5, 2020, at the age of 29. Two of her offspring remain in the care of the Columbus Zoo—Gander (born in 2003) and Jerry (born in 2008). Gander was Unga’s first offspring, and the animal care team named him in honor of the city that had shown so much compassion to his mother.
About bonobos
Bonobos are the least-known species of great ape, with only 5,000-50,000 estimated to be living in the equatorial forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists bonobos as endangered, primarily due to habitat destruction through logging and bush meat hunting. Research has shown that bonobos and people share more than 98 percent of the same DNA. The Columbus Zoo is one of only seven facilities in North America that currently house bonobos, the last ape species to be discovered by western scientists.
