Jo Mendi II (c. 1939 – January 6, 1980) was a male chimpanzee and performer. He earned a reputation as "the greatest performing chimp of all time."[1]
Mendi II was acquired by the Detroit Zoo in the fall of 1945.[2] He was a gift to the zoo from James S. Holden and his wife.[1]
Mendi made his performing debut in May 1946 at the Detroit Zoo's chimpanzee theater.[3] On the zoo's "opening Sunday", Mendi was credited with attracting a record crowd estimated at 45,000 persons.[4] With his talents for riding a bike, roller skating, and walking the tight rope, Mendi became the zoo's star attraction.[5][6][7][8] For the summer of 1946, the zoo attracted a record total of 1,350,000 persons, 30% higher than the previous record.[9]
In the summer of 1949, the zoo's chimpanzee theater, then known as the "Jo Mendi Theater", attracted 168,276 persons.[10] In October 1953, zoo director Frank J. McInnis announced that, after eight summers as the zoo's star attraction, Mendi was retiring from public performing.[11] He gave his final performance at the zoo on November 1, 1953, having attracted more than 1,250,000 persons to his shows at the zoo.[12]
In 1958, the Detroit Free Press reported that Mendi, at age 17, remained in his cage at the zoo, living within earshot of the zoo's ape theater, largely forgotten.[1] In 1966, it was reported that he had special quarters in the zoo's Great Ape House, where "like any old vaudevillian [he] 'hams it up' when he can get an audience."[13] Zoo director McInnis vowed to maintain a place for Mendi as long as he lived, noting: "If Yankee Stadium was the house that Ruth built, our Chimp Theater owes it all to Jo."[13] McInnis called Mendi "a clown who loved audiences" and "knew the value of pratfalls."[13] Mendi died in his cage at the Detroit Zoo in January 1980.[14][15]
