Jenny

Jenny (1953 - 4th September 2008) was a western lowland gorilla who resided in Dallas Zoo, Dallas, Texas, United States of America from 1957 until her death in 2007. She was the oldest known living gorilla in the world until her death 2008. She surpassed Massa as the world’s oldest gorilla ever at the age of 54 in 2007.

She was born in the wild in Africa during 1953, but her exact date of birth is unknown. When she was four, in 1957, she was acquired by Dallas Zoo where she would live for the next 51 years. In 1965, she gave birth to her only child, Vicki; as she did not have anymore children, she became part of a American Study on menopause in gorillas. Vicki was transferred to a zoo in Alberta, Canada in 1970, at the age of five.

In May 2008, Jenny’s 55th birthday was celebrated with a fruit cake. She was euthanised on the 4th September 2008 due to an inoperable tumour which prevented her from eating or drinking for several days. After the death of Jenny, Colo became the world’s oldest living gorilla. She would go on to surpass Jenny’s record as the oldest gorilla ever in 2011 or 2012 and died on the 17th January 2017 at the age of 60.

Zoo officials reacted with sadness following Jenny’s death, with Todd Bowsher, curator of Dallas Zoo's mammals in the Wilds of Africa exhibit saying “We had a tough time saying goodbye” and Kristen Lukas, curator of conservation and science at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and the gorilla species survival plan coordinator for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, saying "It's very sad that she's passed on, but what a great life she's had.”