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Zoos in Pittsburgh and Boston just hashed out a blockbuster one-for-one gorilla trade
By Matt Reigle
Published May 14, 2026
Certain trades are so huge that they changed the course of a sport. Babe Ruth to the Yankees, Wayne Gretzky to the Kings and more recently, Luka Doncic to the Lakers.
That's what I think we've got in a blockbuster gorilla trade between the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium and Franklin Zoo in Boston.
We've got a one-for-one deal that is going to shake up the gorilla market going forward, with Pittsburgh shipping a 7-year-old male western lowland gorilla, Frankie, to Beantown in exchange for Little Joe, a 33-year-old silverback.
Gorilla Little Joe has spent most of his career in Boston, but has been dealt to Pittsburgh for an up-and-coming young prospect. (Staff photo by Lisa Hornak/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh is getting a veteran presence in its enclosure, while Boston gets a highly touted prospect who will have some considerable ass-scratching, feces-throwing shoes to fill.
According to The Pittsburgh Tribune, Frankie will become part of a "bachelor group" with two other males, which means Boston is really building toward the future.
As you might expect, the internet was going, well, ape s--t over this.
I knew that this sometimes happened with zoos, swapping animals around. In fact, when I was a kid, I remember it was a big deal that my local zoo made a big free-agent signing and brought in an albino alligator.
He carried the franchise for a few seasons.
But I want more of this. I want to see zoos cutting deals to assemble the best lineups. And I don't mean one-for-one species deals.
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I'd love to see how many flamingos it's going to take for a rhino. I bet it's a lot. Hell, may have to throw in a first crack at an opportunity to sign a panda on loan from China.
A change of scenery could be just what the veterinarian ordered for Little Joe. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
I hope to keep an eye on this to see how it pans out. Little Joe has a bit of a troubled past. In 2003, he escaped his enclosure and injured a kid.
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Hey, nobody's perfect.
So, maybe the blue-collar environment in the Steel City will do him some good and help find his game because anyone who knows apes — and I've seen all the Planet of the Apes films, so I think I know what I'm talking about — knows he still has some tread on the tire.
https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/zoos-pittsburgh-boston-hashed-blockbuster-one-one-gorilla-trade