The world’s oldest gorilla is celebrating her birthday!
The German zoo shared a clip of Fatou gleefully munching on her personalized cake, which came with a peach slice and blueberry border and the numbers 6 and 5 written in raspberries and blueberries.
The gorilla’s birthday meal “is always something very special” for her, the zoo shared in Germanin its social media postsshowcasing Fatou enjoying her cake.
Zoo Berlin via Storyful
“For her exceptionally old age, Fatou is a very vigorous old lady with a healthy appetite,” said district manager Christian Aust, per the Berlin Zoo. “We are happy every day that she is with us and hope to be able to celebrate a few more birthdays with her.”
Fatou’s enjoyed more birthday celebrations, according to the zoo’s playful statement. “Instead of fat beats in a club,” the park said, “there is a cozy coffee party in the gorilla family’s front yard — more befitting of an elderly lady.”
The zoo said that Fatou’s age is technically unknown, according to Zenger News. Some stories suggest the gorilla “came to Berlin in 1959 through strange circumstances” after a sailor allegedly used her “as a means of payment at an inn in Marseille, France.”
Now, Fatou lives at the Berlin Zoo with silverback Sango, 17, and females Djambala, 20, Mpenzi, 36, Bibi, 25, and Tilla, 1.
Austtold BBC News, “gorillas in the wild have a life expectancy of about 40 years,” making this 65-year-old monkey “the world’s oldest living gorilla for a while.”
Western lowland gorillas are considereda “critically endangered” species, with numbers dipping due to disease, poaching, and habitat destruction, per BBC News.
“Fewer and fewer animals live in the tropical rainforests of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo,” the Berlin Zoo said, according to the outlet.
source: people.com
