Overview
- Fatou, who turned 69 on Monday, received a bamboo bouquet and a basket of lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot and broccoli at Zoo Berlin.
- Keepers say the toothless gorilla has arthritis and limited joint extension, so she now eats small cooked meals with no fruit and lives in a separate senior enclosure.
- Fatou has lived at Zoo Berlin since 1959 and remains a popular draw as the zoo raises money for a new, modern gorilla house.
- Animal-rights group PETA criticized the birthday fanfare and said Fatou was taken from the wild and has spent decades in solitary indoor housing since her companion died.
- In the wild, gorillas typically live 35 to 45 years and are endangered due to habitat loss from logging and mining and from illegal hunting.