Disney's new movie The One and Only Ivan is inspired on the true story of a western lowland gorilla who lived inside a shopping mall for 27 years. Directed by Allison Shearmur, the film is an adaptation of Katherine Applegate's book of the same name, which itself is a largely fictionalized retelling of Ivan's story told from the perspective of the animals.

The real story is rather more sad. Although there was initially a small zoo of animals at the B&I Circus Store where Ivan lived, public opinion about animals in captivity had already started to shift by the mid-1970s. According to a retrospective on Ivan's life by his former owner, Ron Irwin, most of the animals in the mall had already been sent to new homes by 1980. Ivan, however, was a lot harder to place, because zoos already had a surplus of male gorillas. Eventually he was the only animal attraction left, and lived a lonely life in his small concrete room.

Related: One & Only Ivan Live-Action & Voice Cast Character Guide

The B&I Circus Store filed for bankruptcy in 1992, and the previous year a documentary called The Urban Gorilla was released, which featured a segment on Ivan's life and renewed public interest in the mall gorilla. It was this public interest that finally led to him being sent to a better life. Here's the story of the real Ivan.

Ivan's Capture and Early Life

Ivan and Burma As Babies

When pressed by baby elephant Ruby, Ivan tells the story of his time in the wild and his capture in The One and Only Ivan. Some of the details of this story are taken from real life - for example, Ivan really did have a sister, whose name was Burma. The two of them were captured together as babies from the jungles of Zaire, in central Africa. According to Ron Irwin, his father Earl Irwin was called up by a broker who'd heard that the B&I Circus Store collected exotic animals. The broker told Irwin that the baby gorillas would have to be euthanized if he couldn't find a buyer for them by morning, and Irwin "very reluctantly agreed" to buy them.

Burma got sick and died shortly after her arrival in Tacoma, Washington. Ivan was taken in by a family called the Johnstons, who owned a pet store in the B&I, and was raised in their home for three years, until he became too big and unruly to be a family pet. History Link reports that he caused an estimated $17,000 in damages to the Johnstons' home before finally being moved to his cage at the B&I in 1967.

Ivan's Real Owner Was Earl Irwin

One and Only Ivan Bryan Cranston Earl Irwin

In The One and Only Ivan, the titular gorilla was bought and raised by Mack (played by Bryan Cranston), who first used him in photo shoots and then built an entire circus show around him. Ivan's destructive behavior ended up driving away Mack's wife, and led to him being rehomed at the mall. The real Ivan belonged to B&I owner Earl Irwin, was raised by the Johnstons as a baby, and was inherited by Earl's son, Ron Irwin, after Earl's death in 1973. Mack is an amalgamation of the different people who each had a role in caring for Ivan - none of whom were actually a circus ringmaster with a fake British accent.

Related: Read Screen Rant's Review of The One and Only Ivan

After failing to find a zoo that would take Ivan, Ron Irwin spent more than a decade trying to find a female gorilla so that Ivan could at least have some company at the B&I. In The Urban Gorilla he explains that this was "almost impossible," since female gorillas are considered very precious by zoos, who are as unwilling to give females up as they are reluctant to take on additional males. This resulted in a lonely existence for Ivan, who spent 27 years of his life in captivity at the mall.

How Ivan Learned To Paint

Ivan the Gorilla Painting

Efforts were made to try and make Ivan's day-to-day life less mundane. Local anthropologist Bob Daugherty began volunteering his time to do enrichment exercises with Ivan. In The Urban Gorilla Daugherty explains, "With Ivan, I tried to do anything which breaks up the routine of his day. I try to come up with ideas that catch him by surprise, that stimulate him." One day he decided to see if Ivan would be interested in painting. After first demonstrating the concept himself, he put globs of finger paints onto paper and slid them into the cage with Ivan, who would smear the paint around to create abstract gorilla paintings. The paintings were then framed and sold as souvenirs to mall visitors.

This form of enrichment is often used with gorillas in captivity, since the species has shown an aptitude for painting. When Ivan was later transferred to Zoo Atlanta he continued to paint. There, the keepers use PVC paintbrushes that can be used through the wires of the gorilla cage, but widen towards the end so that they couldn't be pulled all the way through. The keepers will hold up a canvas and the gorilla manipulates the paintbrush to smear paint around. In a Zoo Atlanta video reflecting on Ivan's time with them, assistant curator Jodi Carrigan remarks that Ivan was the only gorilla who could actually be given a canvas and would paint instead of breaking it. His favorite color to paint with was red.

Ivan's Move To Zoo Atlanta

Ivan the Gorilla With Flower

The release of The Urban Gorilla reignited interest in Ivan and attracted the attention of pop star Michael Jackson, whose attorney called the Irwins to inquire about Jackson adopting Ivan. These plans fell apart when Jackson couldn't get building permits for the gorilla enclosure he wanted to build, but the story helped to keep Ivan in the headlines. While zoos weren't interested in just any male gorilla, they were interested in acquiring a famous painting gorilla, and as B&I filed for bankruptcy offers started coming in to take Ivan off their hands. In 1994 Ivan was finally donated to Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, before being placed on permanent loan to Zoo Atlanta.

Unlike his emotional release at the end of The One and Only Ivan, the real Ivan was not initially enthusiastic about going outside and interacting with other gorillas. The only life he'd ever known was in a 40' by 40' concrete cage, and adjustment took time. In particular he absolutely hated going outside when it was raining, or even when there was morning dew on the grass. Carrigan recalls that she would give him burlap coffee bean sacks and he would very carefully make his way around outside by putting the sacks on the ground and moving them to create a path, so he wouldn't have to touch the damp grass.

According to Zoo Atlanta Ivan eventually adjusted and became social with a group of female gorillas. He was observed mating with a female called Kinyani, but never sired any offspring, and when Kinyani was transferred to another zoo 16 years later, Ivan "hardly seemed to notice." Though he developed friendly relationships with his fellow gorillas, being raised by humans and spending 27 years in the mall meant that he continued to form his closest relationships with his keepers. Ivan died in 2012 at the age of 50, which is considered a good, long life for a male gorilla in captivity. The One and Only Ivan was published the same year.

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