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7 Olga Walrus

ARTIST: William Allen
ARRIVAL/UNVEILED: 1988
MEDIUM: Cor-ten
LOCATION: Pinniped Point
6 Samson Olga the walrus was one of Brookfield Zoo’s most popular

Silverback Gorilla
animals. She arrived from Copenhagen Zoo as a pup
weighing 250 pounds in 1962. When she was fully-grown,
ARTIST: Edwin Bogucki she was 11 feet long and weighed 1,800 pounds.
ARRIVAL/UNVEILED: 1995 In a 1981 commercial for Seven Seas Panorama, she was
MEDIUM: Bronze introduced as “Olga, the Wonder Walrus, 1,800 pounds of
LOCATION: Entrance to Tropic World
lovable fun!” She was beloved by Zoo guests for her antics,
which included waving and blowing kisses with her flipper
The life-sized sculpture memorializes Samson, a much-loved Western and playfully splashing or spraying out mouthfuls of water.
lowland gorilla silverback who arrived at Brookfield Zoo in 1980, Olga shared a habitat with her best friend, a small harbor
just before the opening of Tropic World: Africa. He sired five seal named Amy. She gave Amy rides on her back and
offspring and helped diversify the gene pool of the gorilla species cradled Amy in her flippers.
in zoos. Samson was 30 when he passed away in 1988. In the wild, When Olga passed away at age 27 in 1988, she was one
the species was endangered then and is critically endangered now. of the oldest walruses in a U.S. zoo or aquarium. Her death
Bogucki, who was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, was was commemorated with a front-page obituary in the
internationally famous, particularly for his paintings and life-sized Chicago Sun-Times and a memorial service. Brookfield Zoo
sculptures of horses. His work is incredibly meticulous and detailed. received dozens of sympathy cards from her fans.
Since he hadn’t met Samson, he studied the gorilla’s photographs Her likeness was sculpted by William Allen, whose
and videos and consulted Zoo staff who had known him. work can be found at other museums and zoos across the
The artist’s work outside the Zoo include sculptures of United States.
thoroughbred-racing legends Secretariat and Man o’ War, which
are located at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky.
His “Against All Odds” statue at the former Arlington International
Racecourse memorialized a thrilling race there when John Henry,
ridden by famed jockey Bill Shoemaker, beat The Bart at the wire.
That statue is now at Churchill Downs.

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