This 59-year-old chimpanzee was refusing food and ready to die — until she received “one last visit from an old friend”..
On Tuesday, 5 April 2016, chimpanzee Mama died at the age of 59 years old at the Royal Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem. She was the oldest chimpanzee in the Netherlands. In all of Europe there are only two chimpanzees that are older. It is estimated that Mama was born in the wild in 1957, after which she lived at the German Zoo of Leipzig for years. In 1971 Mama, together with the chimpanzee females Gorilla and Franje, came to Arnhem, where they formed the new chimpanzee colony that would become world famous.
