FAMOUS CHIMPANZEE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1936, Page 18

FAMOUS CHIMPANZEE

CASEY, OF TARONGA PARK, DEAD

OLDEST IN CAPTIVITY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, February 5.. Friend of Taronga Park Zoo visitors for nearly 20, years, C isey, the famous chimpanzee, was found dead in his cage, after he had been ailing for only a few days. The cause of death was old age. Casey was at least 27 years of age, and" was said to be the oldest chimpanzee in captivity in the world. Casey amused visitors to the Zoo, young and old alike, by his quaint antics, and was generally rewarded with gifts of peanuts, fruit, and biscuits. His "star" turn was the simulation of a huge rage when the group of spectators round his cage "b.arracked" him. The unwary among them was always likely to be the target of bananas that Casey would pluck from the bunch alway • in his cage and fling through the bars. Another achievement of Casey was to kill sparrows that came to his cage to pick crumbs from the floor; he would first stun them with bananas unerringly thrown and then squeeze and pluck them. His wild jungle-dance, something like an exaggerated Charleston, to the accompaniment of spectators' humming, was another of his turns. Thousands of people went to the Zoo solely to see him, and Zoo officials estimated that he-was worth at least £500 a year to them. . . . . . BROUGHT FROM AMERICA. Casey was brought from the United States in the first instance by Mr. E. S. Joseph, a noted animal trainer. Mr. Joseph revisited Sydney many years after he sold Casey to the Zoo, • and going to see Casey was recognised affectionately by the latter when Mr. Joseph jfbbered to him. This ability to recognise experts in ariimalogy was more recently demonstrated when Casey, spoken to in the language of the jungle by Mr. Cherry Kearton, famous big game photographer and naturalist, now visiting Sydney, became tremendously excited and answered with his curious , barking noises. Mr. Kearton and the chimpanzee carried on quite a conversation for several minutes, amazing the small group of officials and privileged visitors who witnessed the incident. The chimpanzee was of a different type from most members of this species, and for that reason was a soecial object of interest to naturalists. "He seemed to have a strain of the gorilla in him." said Mr. W. J. Brown, ■^cretary of the* Taronea Park Trust. '"We shall miss Casey, but we hope to 'be able to obtain a young nair. male and female f>ifl train them."