A handsome gorilla named Shabani at a Japanese zoo has acquired a following of women who judge him to be "ikemen," or a “good-looking man.”
A western lowland gorilla, Shabani came to the Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Nagoya, Japan, in 2007 after having been raised in Sydney,
Australia, The Telegraph reported.
But Shabani didn’t quite attract the female attention in Sydney that he has in Japan, a media relations officer from the Australian zoo told The Telegraph. It’s possible that his handsome features developed later in the 18-year-old gorilla's life.
"I have seen quite an early photo of him and he's not the handsome man that he is today," Madeleine Smitham said. "He certainly didn’t have quite the same following here that he has in Japan."
Twitter has been filled with Japanese women praising Shabani’s looks.
The Daily Mail reported on one woman’s tweet that mirrored the message in numerous others: “I went to Higashiyama Zoo. This hot Shabani ikemen was certainly handsome.”
A zookeeper at Australia’s Taronga Zoo, Allan Schmidt, where Shabani was raised, told the Mail he wasn’t surprised by Shabani’s popularity.
"The Japanese are crazy . . . The Japanese love their fads," he said, adding, "I would say most people would consider him fairly dashing."
The Mail reported that the Japanese zoo has seen an increase in people coming to the zoo, especially in women coming to visit Shabani.
It’s not the gorilla’s first time to go viral online. Shabani was popular in 2007 when a video of him walking a tightrope elicited admiration around the world, Schmidt told the Mail.
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.