Gorilla Assumbo is celebrating a milestone anniversary at the Rostock Zoo: on Saturday he received a birthday cake from the animal keepers for his 50th birthday. The enclosure was also colorfully decorated. “50 years is a very impressive age for a gorilla man,” said zoo director Antje Angeli. In the wild, without medical attention and special diet, gorillas would only live about 35 to 40 years. “We are very happy that Assumbo is in good health. He currently weighs a whopping 165 kilograms and eats very well.”
Stadtwerke Rostock also congratulated the gorilla group around silverback Assumbo as godparents and gave them a fruit basket. The gorilla was born in Jersey Island Zoo in the Channel Island of Jersey in 1973 and was bottle raised there. After a stopover in Prague, he came to Rostock in 1999. In 2012 he moved to the newly built Darwineum.
Gorillas are the largest and heaviest primates in the world. Their height is between 1.25 and 1.75 meters and the males can weigh up to 200 kilos. The females are lighter at 70 to 90 kilograms.
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