Fifty years of Snowflake
In March 1967, the cover of National Geographic showed the first albino gorilla known to date. The baby gorilla was found by hunters in the forests of the -at that moment Spanish- Equatorial Guinea. The indigenous people named him Nfumu -meaning “white”- and he soon became known as Snowflake (Floquet de Neu in Catalan). His worldwide fame started here. The Spanish edition of National Geographic has commemorated the fifty years of that magazine cover on the Aprilʼs issue. “Floquet de Neu, mig segle després” (Snowflake, half a century later) is the title of the long documentary dedicated to him and which includes a comic remembering the scientific discovery. The authors of the story are Raúl Deamo, technician from the Audiovisual Services of the University of Barcelona, and the cartoonists Sagar Fornies and Manu Ripoll.
In March 1967, the cover of National Geographic showed the first albino gorilla known to date. The baby gorilla was found by hunters in the forests of the -at that moment Spanish- Equatorial Guinea. The indigenous people named him Nfumu -meaning “white”- and he soon became known as Snowflake (Floquet de Neu in Catalan). His worldwide fame started here. The Spanish edition of National Geographic has commemorated the fifty years of that magazine cover on the Aprilʼs issue. “Floquet de Neu, mig segle després” (Snowflake, half a century later) is the title of the long documentary dedicated to him and which includes a comic remembering the scientific discovery. The authors of the story are Raúl Deamo, technician from the Audiovisual Services of the University of Barcelona, and the cartoonists Sagar Fornies and Manu Ripoll.
“Although it does not seem so, it was not requested. It was actually the other way round: we proposed the idea to the magazine and they immediately liked it”, says Raúl Deamo. The comic strip, entitled “Nfumu” tells “a story which is not widely known and which we find interesting: the discovery of a gorilla by the eminent ethologist and emeritus professor of the UB Jordi Sabater Pi”. Sabater Pi was then head of the Animal Adaptation and Experimentation Center in Ikunde -institution of the Zoo of Barcelona in the Spanish Guinea- and purchased Snowflake from the hunters. “Sabater Pi is the fight of a man to reach his dream: scientific research. Our idea was to promote the figure of this Catalan scientist, who has never been enough valued”, he says.
Self-educated in a difficult environment and time, Jordi Sabater Pi (1922-2009) joined the world of ethology and anthropology in Guinea, where he lived between 1940 and 1969. He started working on his field research there, which made him one of the first worldwide authorities in the study of primates in natural habitats, amphibians and some African birds. During his life he combined his scientific vocation with artistic activity: “He always showed drawing skills as an important tool in the life of a scientist in terms of observation”, says Deamo. He is author of more than 5.500 photographs, 2.000 drawings, aquarelles, notes (which are now part of the Sabater Pi Collection of the University of Barcelona).
Deamo says that Sabater Piʼs fascination came from afar: “I knew about him and his work, since in Audiovisuals UB we worked on a couple of films about him when he was still alive”. And continues: “I had been thinking about a way of promoting him and share his life in a narrative way, and the anniversary of the famous magazine cover with Snowflake was the perfect moment to do so”. The journalistic comic was the chosen option. Then he contacted the cartoonists Sagar Fornies and Manu Ripoll, who had experience in this kind of projects (Fornies is the author of Barcelona. Los vagabundos de la chatarra). “They are two cartoonists able to get the reality in their drafts, as did Sabater Pi in his field drawings in the jungle” he says.
In order to get information for the text, Deamo read two published biographies of Sabater Pi, visited the Sabater Pi Collection of the UB (“a lifeʼs legacy”) and he even interviewed Oriol Sabater, son of the primatologist. “We wanted to be as accurate as possible when it comes to historical and biographical rigour”, highlighted Deamo. After this intense documentation task, they worked on the drawings, ink and digital color. The comic includes a couple of real photographs to add more value to the story, and scientific notes talking about albinism.
The promotion of the figure of Sabater Pi does not end here. “Our idea is to keep on telling about his life in a longer graphic novel”. There is still a lot to be told, they say. “The discovery of Snowflake is an anecdote in his large scientific career, full of milestones. We will try to find a publishing house, in Spain or abroad, interested in such a work”, concluded Deamo.