Colo, World’s Oldest Zoo Gorilla, Dies in Columbus, Ohio: Video

(Updated) COLUMBUS, OH — Colo, the oldest known gorilla in the world and the first gorilla to be born in captivity, has died. The 60-year-old female gorilla died peacefully in her sleep Tuesday at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, where the western lowland gorilla was the matriarch of a huge extended gorilla family. She lived about 20 years longer than expected, the zoo said.

Colo’s birth on Dec. 22, 1956 — the zoo just celebrated the beginning of the seventh decade of her life last month — was a historic moment for the zoo and for the world. Little was known about western lowland gorilla conservation, but Colo “had the support of a nation behind her,” the Columbus Zoo said. Her birth made headlines around the world.

She got her name in a national “name the baby gorilla” contest. Colo is short for Columbus, Ohio, where she lived her entire life and epitomized the zoo’s mission, “touch the heart to teach the mind,” Tom Stalf, president and CEO of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, said in a statement on the zoo website.

“Colo touched the hearts of generations of people who came to see her and those that cared for her over her long lifetime,” Stalf said. “She was an ambassador for gorillas and inspired people to learn more about the critically endangered species and motivated them to protect gorillas in their native habitat.”

Colo’s birth wasn’t planned. A second-year veterinary student at the time, Warren Thomas defied orders from the zoo’s director to keep her parents, Baron Macombo and Millie Christina, apart because he worried the gorillas would hurt each other, the zoo said.

Thomas also found Colo shortly after her birth, still in her amniotic sac, and revived the lifeless gorilla with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the zoo said.

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The zoo said both Colo’s gorilla and animal-care family spent time with her body Tuesday morning. She will be cremated, and her ashes will be buried at an undisclosed location at the zoo. Prior to cremation, a necropsy, the equivalent of a human autopsy, will be performed to further define the cause of death and to collect blood and tissue that will inform the world zoo community about gorillas, the zoo said. On Dec. 3, 2016, a malignant tumor was removed from under her arm.

Colo’s death leaves the Columbus Zoo’s prized gorilla collection at 16 endangered western lowland gorillas. They include Colo’s daughter, Toni; grandson, Mac; granddaughter, Cassie; great-granddaughter, Dotty; and great-grandson, JJ.

During her long life at the zoo, Colo became the mother of three, the grandmother of 16, the great-grandmother of 12 and the great-great grandmother of three. Two of her grandchildren, Mac and Mosuba, are the first surviving twins born at the zoo. They were born in 1983.

All four types of gorillas are endangered due to habitat destruction in their western and central Africa ranges, poaching and susceptibility to diseases, such as Ebola, that can decimate large numbers of animals in a short period of time.

Of them, western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are the most prevalent, numbering about 150,000 to 250,000 in the wild. There are fewer than 4,000 eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla berengei grauen), about 880 mountain gorillas (Gorilla berengei berengei) and fewer than 400 Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli).

The zoo has designated an area outside of the zoo entrance for anyone wishing to remember Colo. Any donations made in her memory will be used to support the zoo’s gorilla conservation programs. Contributions can be made through the zoo’s website.

Photo courtesy of Columbus Zoo and Aquarium