Kamal Ghorui
Fatou, world’s oldest gorilla living in captivity, marked her 69th birthday on Monday with a special meal at the Berlin Zoo which included cherry tomatoes, beets, leeks and lettuce, whlie skipping cake as sugar is not considered healthy for her at this age.Fatou is a western lowland gorilla who arrived in West Berlin in 1959. She was believed to be about two years old at the time, though her exact birth date is unknown. April 13 has been set as her official birthday. Gorillas typically live 35 to 40 years in the wild, but can live longer in captivity.She became the zoo’s oldest resident in 2024 after the death of Ingo the flamingo, who was believed to be at least 75 years old and had lived at the zoo since 1955.According to Guinness World Records, a French sailor took her out of Africa and exchanged her to settle a bar bill in Marseille. She was later sold to the zoo by an animal trader.Now, Fatou lives alone in her enclosure and keeps her distance from other gorillas. She has lost her teeth and suffers from arthritis and some hearing loss.
