[monkeywire] World's oldest fertile gorilla and orang-utan jointly turn 50

ugarte at rickblaine.com ugarte at rickblaine.com
Thu Dec 6 11:05:01 EST 2007


World's oldest fertile gorilla, orang-utan turn 50
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL06159364.html

BERLIN, Dec 6 (Reuters Life!) - The world's oldest fertile gorilla and 
orang-utan in captivity, Matze and Charly, jointly celebrated their 
50th birthdays with a cake each at Frankfurt Zoo on Thursday.

Matze the gorilla was born in central Africa in 1957 and spent the 
first years of his life with a troupe of showmen before arriving in 
Frankfurt in 1962, the zoo said. Charly, born in northern Sumatra, has 
been at Frankfurt Zoo since 1978.

"Each received a cake made with pastry and mandarin with cream on top 
-- but with no sugar," zoo spokeswoman Caroline Liefke said.

Both are great grandfathers, Matze having fathered 17 children -- the 
latest in April -- while Charly has sired more than 18, with the 
offspring of both spread all over the world. 

(Reporting by Iain Rogers; Editing by Catherine Evans)


More information about the Monkeywire mailing list