Sponsorship of Copito de nieve
The Catalan group baguetina sponsor some of the most representative symbols of Barcelona from 2001 to 2003, Copito de nieve.
Copito de Nieve (en catalán Floquet de Neu) (Río Muni, 1963 ó 1964 - Barcelona, 2003 24th november) has been, to date, the only albino gorilla in the world to take notice of, but not the only primate. It was the kind of western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). Perhaps his real name should have been Nfumu Ngui (gorilla white) which was the name under which he was named fang hunters who found him in the jungle of Nko (Equatorial Guinea). These hunters were sold to Professor Jordi Sabater Pi, then curator of the Center for Experimental Zoological Ikunde Barcelona City Council as a branch of the Barcelona Zoo, for 15,000 pesetas. The teacher took him to Spain in 1966. Starred in the cover of National Geographic magazine in March 1967, which gave him worldwide fame, becoming a symbol of the zoo of Barcelona and the city.
The albinism of the gorilla was equivalent to the most frequent type of albinism in man, Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA), subtype 1A.
He had 21 children, five of whom survived (one male and four females) and seven grandchildren (three males and four females). Reached 187 kg weigh and measure 163 cm. He died on November 24, 2003 due to a skin cancer that had caused him health problems since 1996. It is estimated that some 39 years had led to a human scale would be more than 80 years.
Millions of letters have arrived at the Barcelona Zoo asking cloning Copito Snow, making it one of the most requested for cloning. This would be possible since the zoo keeps several DNA samples.