Jenny the Orangutan

Jenny was the first Orangutan to be shown at London Zoo. She arrived on 25th November 1837, after being purchased from a Mr Moss for £150. She was put in the specially heated Giraffe House. She wore human clothing and learned to drink tea. She soon attracted excited crowds of people. On 28th March 1838, Charles Darwin came to London Zoo to see Jenny. It was his first sighting of an ape. He described Jenny in a letter: “the keeper showed her an apple, but would not give it her, whereupon she threw herself on her back, kicked & cried, precisely like a naughty child. - She then looked very sulky & after two or three fits of pashion [sic], the keeper said, 'Jenny if you will stop bawling & be a good girl, I will give you the apple.' - She certainly understood every word of his, &, though like a child, she had great work to stop whining, she at last succeeded, & then got the apple, with which she jumped into an arm chair & began eating it, with the most contented countenance imaginable.” The experience reinforced Darwin's view that human beings were 'created from animals'. Jenny died from an illness on 28th May 1839. After Jenny's death, she was replaced by another female Orangutan who, by tradition, was also named Jenny. The second Jenny was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert