Ozzie, the world’s oldest male gorilla, dies

Zoo Atlanta (United States) announced on Tuesday the death of Ozzie, the world’s oldest male gorilla, who died at 61 years in the animal enclosure of that city of the state of Georgia.

Ozzie era the third oldest gorilla in the world, after two females: Fatou, 64, who lives at the Berlin Zoo, and Helen, 63, who belongs to the Louisville Zoo (Kentucky, United States).

for now Ozzie’s cause of death is unknown, who began showing signs of lack of appetite last Thursday and this week experienced facial swelling, weakness and an inability to eat or drink, according to a statement from the zoo, which plans to carry out a necropsy.

“This is a devastating loss for Zoo Atlanta. Although we knew this day would come, that inevitability does not lessen the profound sadness we feel at losing a legend,” park president Raymond B. King said in the statement.

The primate, whose species —western lowland gorilla— is in danger of extinction, came to Zoo Atlanta in 1988 and had twelve children there, of which four still lived with him in the enclosure, where he also shared space with one of his granddaughters and two great-grandchildren, the zoo said.

Ozzie made headlines in 2009 when he became the world’s first gorilla to have his blood pressure voluntarily taken, using a device specifically designed to do so.

He was 48 years old at the time and was already considered elderly, because gorillas enter the geriatric stage around the age of 40, the zoo explained.

Last year, Ozzie and 12 other gorillas at Zoo Atlanta contracted COVID-19, presumably by catching it from one of his caregivers who had no symptoms, according to the chain NBC News.

Illegal hunting and disease have reduced the population of western lowland gorillas by 60% in the jungles of central Africa, where the species originates, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). (I)