Fatou, World's Oldest Gorilla, Celebrates 65th Birthday With Tasty Treat

Fatou, the world's oldest gorilla, celebrated her 65th birthday in the Berlin Zoo on Wednesday. The zoo's staff made the day special for her by preparing a cake made of rice, cottage cheese, vegetable and fruits. The treat carried the letter 65 in red and grey gems-like candies and the ape enjoyed every bit of it.

The gorilla licked her fingers clean after the delicious meal, according to the zoo staff who fed her the cake.

Vielen Dank an unsere Tierpfleger für diese tolle Geburtstagstorte. Fatou hat's geschmeckt! #HappyBirthday #Gorilla #ZooBerlin pic.twitter.com/FxYrMGeRMT

— Zoo Berlin (@zooberlin) April 13, 2022

Ireland-based RTE reported that Fatou, a western lowland gorilla, came to Berlin in 1959 and has been living there since then. "Gorillas living in the wild have a life expectancy of about 40 years and at 65, she has been the world's oldest living gorilla for a while," Christian Aust, in charge of apes at the zoo, told RTE.

German television channel RBB carried a piece in 2017, which claimed that Fatou was born in 1957 and originally grew up in the wild in West Africa, before being brought to France by a sailor.

The ape reportedly ended up in Berlin Zoo when she was two after the sailor traded her in to pay off his bar tab.

Fatou has been the world's oldest living gorilla since the death of 60-year-old Colo in 2017. She shared the record with Trudy, who used to live in the Arkansas zoo, but died in 2019.

The Berlin Zoo said that western lowland gorillas are an endangered species after their natural habitat was continuously decimated.

"Fewer and fewer animals live in the tropical rainforests of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon and the Republic of Congo," it recently said in a statement.

The zoo even added that gorillas are the largest ape species with a weight of up to 200kg and eat between 15 to 20kg of leaves, grass, bark and fruits.