Lady Fatou has maintained her title as the world’s oldest gorilla living in captivity after celebrating her 69th birthday at the Berlin Zoo on Monday.
According to DW, Fatou was born somewhere in West Africa and arrived in Europe in 1959 at the port of Marseille. The young gorilla arrived among a French sailor’s luggage, but when he couldn’t pay his bill at a tavern, the gorilla was given to the landlady as payment. From there, she made her way to the zoo in the German capital.
Meet Lady Fatou
The birthday girl is a western lowland gorilla, which typically don’t live past their 40s in the wild. In captivity, living to 50 is abnormal.
Fatou — described as stubborn but friendly — gave birth to the first gorilla born at the Berlin Zoo, Dufte, who was born in 1974. Dufte died in 2001, but Fatou’s granddaughter, M’penzi, is still there to keep her company in Berlin, per DW. As of 2026, she has at least three great-great-great-grandchildren.
In her old age, she lives in her own private enclosure and has staff members dedicated just to her care. She lives a quiet life away from the action of the younger gorillas.
According to The Independent, Fatou has lost her teeth and has experienced hearing loss and some arthritis.
Her birthday was celebrated with a feast where she ate cherry tomatoes, leeks, lettuce and beets. Even though Fatou’s exact birth date isn’t known, April 13 has been designated as her birthday, per The Associated Press.
In 2024, Fatou became the Berlin Zoo’s oldest resident after the death of Ingo the flamingo. The Berlin Zoo’s primate supervisor, Christian Aust, said Fatou is a bit stubborn but is friendly with the zookeepers.
The world’s oldest animals
Fatou isn’t the only zoo animal that is outliving her counterparts in the wild. Here is a look at some of the other oldest zoo animals around the world.
Zoo Boise is home to Elvis, who is believed to be the world’s oldest spider monkey. It is believed that Elvis was born in 1962, and typically spider monkeys live to be between 25 and 45 years old.
The world’s oldest recorded living land animal is Jonathan, a 193-year-old tortoise, who lives on the island of St. Helena.
Jonathan is listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest tortoise ever and the oldest living land animal. He was brought to the island in 1882 and was believed to be about 50 years old at the time, per The Associated Press.
Queens Park in New Zealand is home to Henry the tuatara, who was born sometime between 1890 and 1910.