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Colo, the oldest zoo gorilla in the world, has passed away at the age of 60.
Columbus Zoo announced the sad news on Tuesday, just a few weeks after her historic 60th birthday.
Thousands of fans attended her birthday on Dec. 22, 2016, which came after she’d had a malignant tumor removed on Dec. 3. It is unknown if cancer contributed to her death. The zoo will perform a post-mortem investigation to find out.
She made history when she was born in 1956, the first zoo-born gorilla at a time when not much was known about the western lowland gorilla.
She owed her life to a veterinary student Warren Thomas, who found her still in her amniotic sac and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to revive the lifeless infant.
Over her long life, she served as an ambassador for gorillas, inspired people to learn more about the critically endangered species and motivated them to protect gorillas in the wild, Tom Stalf, the president and CEO of the Columbus Zoo, told WNBS of Columbus.
She owed her life to a veterinary student Warren Thomas, who found her still in her amniotic sac and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to revive the lifeless infant. She was named in a contest – Colo is short for Columbus.
Her body will be cremated and her ashes buried at an undisclosed location at the zoo.
With a heavy heart we report that #ColoGorilla passed away in her sleep. She recently celebrated her 60th birthday. https://t.co/bkHnyLRZv2 pic.twitter.com/DA3ehFdAlV
— Columbus Zoo (@ColumbusZoo) January 17, 2017
Agencies/Canadajournal
