COLUMBUS – When Colo, the oldest gorilla in any zoo, turns 60 on Thursday, the celebration at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium will be streamed live.
“Colo has sent shock waves through the field of gorilla conservation since the day she was born,” said Tom Stalf, zoo president and CEO. “Before her, a gorilla had never been born in a zoo…It has been our honor to care for this charismatic and history-making gorilla, who has connected with millions of people and helped inspire them to protect her species.”
A western lowland gorilla, Colo has been a celebrity since the day she was born in 1956 as the first gorilla to be born in human care. On her 60th birthday, she will have surpassed the median life expectancy for female gorillas in human care by more than two decades.
On the zoo grounds, the celebration from noon to 3:00 p.m. in the zoo’s Congo River Market food court will include games, activities, and food specials. A webcast will start at 1:30 p.m. with a video about Colo, and she will make her entrance at her habitat in Congo Expedition at 2:00, when she will be able to to explore her decorated habitat, open presents, and enjoy a specially-crafted birthday cake.
Colo’s birthday puts a focus on care for aging zoo animals. Experts say improved medical care, better nutrition and up-to-date therapeutic techniques are helping lengthen zoo animals’ lives and more animals are living with the aches and pains of growing older.
Zoo veterinarians, in collaboration with a local cardiologist, anesthesiologist, ultrasound technician, and veterinary surgeon, successfully removed a mass from under Colo’s arm on Dec. 3.
In their native ranges of Central Africa, western lowland gorilla populations have been severely impacted by poaching, human-carried disease, and habitat loss and have been listed as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2007.