First gorilla born in captivity, age 59, returns to Ohio zoo after surgery


By Gina Cherelus

(Reuters) – The first gorilla born in captivity has returned to her enclosure at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio after recovering from successful surgery last week to remove a malignant tumor, the zoo said.

“She got presents and was very active and engaged. She’s on view and she looks great,” Patty Peters, the zoo’s spokeswoman, said on Saturday.

Veterinarians at the zoo removed the mass from under the arm of Colo, a 59-year-old female gorilla, on Dec. 3, the zoo said in a statement. Days later, a pathology report confirmed that the tumor was malignant.

There was no sign that the tumor had spread and no additional treatment on Colo was planned, officials said in the statement.

Colo, a western lowland gorilla born on Dec. 22, 1956, is the matriarch of the Columbus Zoo’s popular gorilla family, according to the zoo’s website. Her name is short for her birthplace: Columbus.

Western lowland gorillas, native to the rain forests of Central Africa, are an endangered species, according to nationalgeographic.com. Their average life span in the wild is 35 years.

(Editing by David Gregorio)