Brooksville Plant Materials Center

No Monkey Business Going On Here: Gorilla in the Disney habitat area.  Photo taken on a recent site evaluation by PMC personnel to see how the limpograss was establishing. 

December 2001 - The Brooksville, FL Plant Materials Center (PMC) handled an unusual request for apparently some delicious plant materials last August. 

Wendy Andrew, manager of the Walt Disney Company’s Animal Kingdom & Resorts Horticulture, in Orlando needed limpograss (Hemarthria altissima) to plant in the gorilla habitat at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  

 "We wanted to establish [limpograss] on a slope in the Gorilla Family habitat to provide forage for the gorillas and hopefully have it last longer despite intense animal traffic in the area," said Andrew. 

Lowland gorillas are primarily vegetarians and consume large amounts of leaves, stems and shoots.  Limpograss is native to southern Africa and is widely planted in Florida by cattle producers—and gorillas seem to really like it according to those who know these things.

One of those persons in-the-know on feeding gorillas is Mimi Williams, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Plant Materials Specialist for Florida.  Williams and the PMC staff are excited about working with Disney on this and other feeding-friendly projects.

"Disney is also requesting some of our other plant releases, particularly vegetation native to Florida.  Potentially using native Florida plant for landscaping and/or food for the animals at their park makes sense," Williams said.  "Native Floridian plants often are just as nutritious as what the animals have to eat in their home ranges, and Florida natives, not surprisingly, often are easier to grow in Florida."

Personnel at the Brooksville PMC were able to supply the gorillas with a truckload of 'Greenalta' limpograss vegetative planting material ('Greenalta' is the specific cultivar of limpograss the gorillas chose off the PMC menu).  This cultivar was developed jointly by the Brooksville PMC and the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences for use as forage for livestock in Florida.

When asked if Disney requested native plants that mice like, Williams indicated that they had not, which is ironic considering Mickey Mouse is, well a mouse.