Oldest captive gorilla dies at 55 in Texas zoo

September 6, 2008

DALLAS The oldest gorilla in captivity, a 55-year-old female named Jenny, has died at the Dallas Zoo - her home for more than half a century, a spokesman said yesterday. Zoo officials decided to euthanize Jenny on Thursday night because of an inoperable tumor in her stomach. Jenny had stopped eating and drinking recently, and tests showed she was unlikely to recover, spokesman Sean Greene said. The International Species Information System, which maintains records on animals at 700 institutions around the world, confirmed this year that Jenny was the oldest gorilla in its database. Jenny was born in the wild and was acquired by the zoo in 1957. She gave birth in 1965 to a female named Vicki, and officials aren't sure why she didn't conceive again. Vicki was sent to a Canadian zoo at age 5. Gorillas in the wild normally live to age 30 or 35, but they can survive years longer in a zoo.

From Baltimore Sun news services