Gorilla dies on 54th birthday

Press, 2 January 1985, Page 6

Gorilla dies on 54th birthday

NZPA-AP Philadelphia Massa, the world’s oldest known gorilla, died on Monday just hours after he celebrated his fifty-fourth birthday at the Philadelphia Zoo with a whipped-cream covered assortment of ice cream, bananas, grapes, and apples.

Death was attributed to a stroke, caused by blockage of the arteries to the brain. The lowland gorilla from central Africa, nearly bald and afflicted with arthritis and hardening of the arteries, was seen alive in his glass-enclosed cage at 7.10 p.m. But five hours later,

just minutes after midnight, the night watchman making his regular rounds at the zoo’s rare animal house spotted Massa lying on his side, unmoving. Dr Keith Hinshaw, the zoo’s veterinarian, was summoned, performed an electrocardiogram, determined

there was no heart activity and pronounced Massa dead. The 81kg lowland gorilla had an active, exuberant day on Monday, prompting a zoo-keeper, Roseann Giambro, to remark that he “seems to like it when something different happens — he’s more alert.”

Earlier, a crowd of cardtoting well-wishers sang “happy birthday” to Massa. Massa lived twice the normal life-span of his counterparts in the wild. A better diet and a lack of predators often provide zoo gorillas with superior health and longevity.