Berlin Zoo is celebrating Fatou the gorilla’s 67th birthday. She is the oldest in the world, the zoo claims.
Fatou was born in 1957 and came to the zoo in what was then West Berlin in 1959. Before her official birthday on Saturday, keepers treated her to fruits and vegetables. Veterinarian Andre Schule said no other zoo has a gorilla older than Fatou. According to him, gorillas typically live up to 35 years in the wild and up to 50 years under human care. However, Fatou’s exact date of birth is unknown.
“After many years ago a drunken sailor used the little gorilla as a means of payment in a pub in Marseille, France, it finally ended up in the Berlin Zoo,” the zoo revealed. When it arrived in Berlin in 1959, veterinarians assessed the age She is two years old. For many years, the zoo has been celebrating her birthday on April 13th.
Fatou lives in his own enclosure and, in his old age, prefers to keep his distance from the other gorillas at the zoo.
Photo of Fatou’s birthday cake: “The base of the cake is made of rice, which we’ve decorated with quark, vegetables and fruit,” says division head Christian Aust.
Further information on this topic can be found at: www.zoo-berlin.de/en/species-conservation/at-the-zoo.
