SEATTLE — One of the oldest orangutans living in North America has died at the age of 52 in Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.
Chinta was the last remaining animal born at the Woodland Park Zoo in the 1960s who lived at the zoo her entire lifetime. She was predeceased by her twin brother named Towan, who died in 2016.
Worldwide, the twin orangutans gained instant celebrity status as the first-known twin orangutans born in a zoo. Photos of the pair as infants appeared around the globe, including in “Life” magazine. While other twins have since been born, twin orangutan births are a rare occurrence.
Over her lifetime, Chinta played a role in zoo-based research projects that have contributed to increased knowledge of orangutan reproductive biology and a growing commitment among zoos to support orangutan field conservation, the zoo said.
In 1993, she underwent the first-ever embryo transfer for an orangutan; donors were from a female and male orangutan that lived at the zoo temporarily for breeding. While it didn’t result in a pregnancy, the procedure helped make remarkable headway for this reproductive technique on orangutans.
“Chinta’s passing is a deep, deep loss for our zoo family, especially for her keepers. She was a beautiful ginger and a doting auntie to her nephew, Heran,” said Martin Ramirez, a mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo.
The average life expectancy of an orangutan in the wild is 28. Orangutans in zoos can live into their 50s due to the evolving field of animal medicine, according to the zoo.
Orangutans are critically endangered species.