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These poignant never-seen-before pictures of Harambe the gorilla reveal his human side and show just why the world fell in love with the mammal dubbed a 'gentle giant'.

They were taken by amateur photographer Robert Streithorst, who lives five miles from the zoo where the silverback was shot dead by staff on Saturday.

Harambe was killed after three-year-old boy Isaiah Dickerson fell 12ft into his enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo, Ohio, US.

In several of Robert's pictures, Harambe can be seen looking pensive with his thumb to his mouth - as if thoughtfully considering a question.

In others, he looks playful, almost coquettish, revealing his sense of humour as he plays with water which he used to enjoy throwing at visitors in jest.

He's also seen busying himself, exploring his enclosure, examining plants and rolling around on the floor with his head in his hands.

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Showing a human side, Harambe is often looking at the camera or out of the corner of his eye, as if he knew he was being snapped and 'performing' for the lens.

That is certainly the opinion of retired salesman Robert, who visits the zoo to take photos of animals four to five times a month and got to know Harambe well.

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

(Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst)

He says he had regularly shot photos of the giant beast, sometimes spending five or six hours a day at his enclosure - since he arrived around 18 months ago.

As a result, he got to know the 17-year-old gorilla's personality well and told Mirror.co.uk: "He was absolutely my favourite animal.

"Harambe was just different from all the others. He was something special... he was a character. He seemed to love the camera.

"He was a beautiful mammal. He was a very physical... ripped gorilla. But he seemed to always want to put on a kind of a show.

"He knew his name when the keepers called it. He would cup his hand for carrots. He would stare right at you. It's like he knew you had a camera. He was a 'ham'.

"He wasn't mature - he would act like he was a teenager. He would chase the girls and they would chase him!

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

"He loved to splash people. He had this trick where he liked to act like he was getting a drink of water and would go over and cup his hand and then throw it at people and run away - but he never got the audience wet!"

Robert was stunned to read the news of what had happened at home on Facebook when a friend posted an RIP Harambe message.

"When I heard the news I was just shocked. I read RIP and thought it doesn't make sense," he said.

(Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst)

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

"There's a barrier there. You'd have to try intentionally to get over the barrier.

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"There's a moat and it's several feet. An adult wouldn't think of doing it but a child...

"That exhibit on a holiday weekend gets very packed with poeple. it would be easy to lose track of a child.

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Robert used Olympus Micro 4/3 Mirrorless OMD series cameras and lenses to take his shots, which he hopes will stand as fitting tribute to Harambe.

(Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst)

Meanwhile he is also concerned that the zoo isn't blamed for what happened and what the repercussions might mean.

"I hope we don't go back to having iron bars. I don't blame the zoo - they were put into a terrible situation and had to make a terrible decision," he said.

"It would be great if something good came out of this. It would be great if the child grew up to be an animal activist or something."

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The gorilla display at Cincinnati Zoo is now closed and unavailable to the public.

(Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst)

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

It is not expected to reopen until Saturday at the earliest while an investigation into how Isaiah gained access is under way.

It has emerged that his parents - Deonne Dickerson and his girlfriend Michelle Gregg - could be probed over child neglect claims.

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The family has suffered a backlash after the zoo was forced to take the extraordinary action of shooting Harambe to protect their child.

Western lowland gorillas - whose native habitat is the rain forests of central Africa - are critically endangered beasts in the wild.

(Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst)

More than a million people have condemned the parents online - with more than a 130,000 people having signed a Justice For Harambe Facebook page set up in the wake of his death.

One post said: "The zoos aren't the problem. It's the idiotic parents."

It is still not clear how Isiah slipped from his mother's grasp to gain entry into the enclosure - and within Harambe's grasp.

One witness claimed Gregg didn't initially realise it was her own son when the alarm was raised.

(Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst) (Image: Robert Streithorst)

Kim O'Connor said the boy had earlier told his mother that he "wanted to swim with the gorilla" as they were preparing to leave the display.

She said: "I heard him say 'I wanna go' and the mom was like 'No, you're not!'

"She didn't have him by the hand and at one point he must have been behind her, out of sight.

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"I don't think in her wildest imagination she thought he would actually go back and do that."

Witnesses hear a splash and someone yelled "Oh my God, there's a kid in there!"

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

It was only when visitors started screaming, Kim says, that Michelle - a nursery school administrator - said: "Oh my God, that's my son!"

Video footage shows the gorilla dragging Isaiah by the ankle through the moat in the enclosure as the screams continued.

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

The clip also appeared to show Harambe standing guard over the frightened child - and the pair briefly holding hands.

The zoo decided to shoot rather than tranquilise the gorilla as a precaution to prevent it attacking the boy.

Meanwhile it's emerged that Isaiah's father has a criminal record dating back more than a decade - including a prison sentence for drug trafficking as well as kidnap, burglary and firearms offences.

(Image: Robert Streithorst)

Friends say Dickerson, who works as a sorter at a Cincinnati industrial equipment supplier, has since turned his life around.

The family released a statement praising the "quick action" by zoo staff - and say they have turned down lucrative offers to tell their side of what happened.

Zoo boss Thomas Maynard continued to defend its actions, saying Harambe was far from a "gentle thing" and that it couldn't take a risk.

It added that it had frozen his sperm for possible future reproduction as it has a long history of breeding gorillas dating back almost 50 years.