Wildlife sanctuary announces death of 62-year-old chimpanzee Ladybird
KEITHVILLE, La. (KSLA/Gray News) - A Louisiana wildlife sanctuary announced the death of a beloved chimpanzee who was one of its oldest residents.
Chimp Haven in Keithville announced 62-year-old Ladybird died after spending 11 years at the sanctuary, KSLA reported.
“It’s with heavy hearts that we share the news of Ladybird’s passing. At 62 years old, Ladybird was among our oldest retirees at Chimp Haven and a beloved personality and fixture of the sanctuary,” Chimp Haven said in a post on Facebook.
The sanctuary said Ladybird’s “gap-toothed grin and sweet, goofy temperament” always brightened people’s days.
Chimp Haven said Ladybird was born in the wild in 1960 before being brought into the U.S. as a baby.
The 200-acre sanctuary has more than 300 chimpanzees. Many of the primates were used in biomedical research before getting to enjoy retirement.
A Yale study said wild chimpanzees have an average life expectancy of about 33 years under the right ecological conditions.
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