Gorillas have a superior degree of cognitive ability. To survive, they don’t employ tools as other animals do. However, wild gorillas have been spotted employing sticks to assess water depth, bamboo as ladders for infants to climb and even sticks to eat ants in order to prevent being stung.
Gorilla populations are under threat from a variety of factors, including poaching, disease transmission via humans, and even civil wars and political issues. In fact, these are currently the most serious challenges to gorilla survival. The sad truth is that humanity is at fault for all of these reasons, and many people still remain ignorant about it.
Gorillas typically only live to be about 50 years old when kept in captivity. When compared to their expected lifespan in the wild, which is only around 35 years on average, this is a significant improvement.
A western lowland gorilla baby is known as “Fatou” was brought to the Berlin Zoo in 1959. The sailor who was attempting to use the gorilla as payment at a bar in Marseille, France, transported her there. She then traveled to Europe and was eventually acquired by the zoo that had been seeking her.
People across the world celebrated with her recently as she reached the age of 65. Her day was made even more special as she spent it at the Berlin Zoo, among those who care for her and adore her.
On April 13, 2022, Berlin Zoo planned a celebration for Fatou in order to make her happy. They were so pleased to have Fatou under their care that they posted an update about the birthday party they held for her on Instagram.
The Berlin Zoo stated:
“Our Gorilla lady is celebrating her 65th birthday today, making her the oldest Gorilla in the world. The traditional birthday cake could not be missing this year either. The birthday meal is always something very special for Fatou.” They even made Fatou a very special cake decorated with everything that she loves, berries and fruits which they formed into the numbers “65.”
On March 1, 2018, the video of her birthday celebration was shared by the Guinness World Records on their Instagram feed, and it quickly gathered a large number of views and became very fashionable. The video was captioned as follows:
“Oldest living gorilla in captivity – Fatou celebrated her 65th birthday this week!”
Fatou’s 65th birthday is unique in a number of ways.
BBC Wildlife Magazine wrote, “The western lowland gorilla is the most numerous of the four subspecies, with population estimates often cited at 100,000-200,000. However, due to their dense, remote habitat, no one knows for sure how many exist. The least numerous is the cross river gorilla, which is confined to scattered areas of forest in Nigeria and Cameroon, and is thought to number no more than 300 individuals.”
There may still be a few of them hiding in the woods, where other animals are their natural predators; nevertheless, it’s well understood that people pose the greatest threat to the survival of their species.
