By Robert Young, University of Salford

Brazilians head to the polls in October to decide on their new president. The country’s votes always produce surprises such as the election of a clown in 2010 and in 1959 the election of a rhinoceros named Cacareco with 100,000 votes as a city councillor of São Paulo.

Cacareco was arguably Brazil’s first celebrity animal but the Belo Horizonte Zoo, through captive breeding, has produced the first two “Brazilian” gorillas in the past month. Once their names have been chosen, these baby gorillas will no doubt become celebrities. The zoo just needs to be careful with the naming – after a public competition in the 1970s its first gorilla was called Idi Amin Dada, after the African dictator.

London Zoo’s most famous resident Guy the Gorilla became a national icon in the 60s and 70s; he too was named after an infamous character…