Fatou (gorilla)

{{Short description|Oldest gorilla in the world (born 1957)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}

{{Infobox Animal

|name = Fatou

|image = Zoo Berlin Gorilla Fatou May 2018 2.jpg

|caption = Fatou in 2018

|species = Lowland gorilla

|birth_date = {{circa|1957}}

|birth_place = West Africa

|residence = Berlin Zoo

|known_for = Being The Oldest Living Gorilla

}}

Fatou (born {{circa|1957}}) is a gorilla residing at Berlin Zoo, Germany. She was born in West Africa, and was brought from West Africa to France by a sailor in 1959. She was then acquired by the Berlin Zoo. On October 30, 1974, she gave birth to the first gorilla to be raised in Berlin, Dufte.{{cite web|title=Zoo Berlin - Herzlich willkommen im Zoo Berlin. - Senior citizens meet for gorilla's birthday|url=http://www.zoo-berlin.de/en/news/latest-news/article/senior-citizens-meet-for-gorillas-birthday-1?tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&cHash=fa91c577bfa502abadc7eb7061f342c0|website=www.zoo-berlin.de|language=en|access-date=25 January 2017|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202025340/http://www.zoo-berlin.de/en/news/latest-news/article/senior-citizens-meet-for-gorillas-birthday-1?tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&cHash=fa91c577bfa502abadc7eb7061f342c0|url-status=dead}}

Since the death of Trudy on 24 July 2019, she became the oldest living gorilla in the world.{{Cite web |url=http://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2017/01/aeltester-gorilla-berlin-fatou.html |title=Berlinerin Fatou ist nun ältester Gorilla der Welt | RBB Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg |access-date=2017-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202012146/http://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2017/01/aeltester-gorilla-berlin-fatou.html |archive-date=2017-02-02 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.nordkurier.de/brandenburg/fatou-koennte-nun-aeltester-gorilla-der-welt-sein-2026856301.html|title=Berliner Zoo: Fatou könnte nun ältester Gorilla der Welt sein - Nordkurier.de|date=20 January 2017|publisher=}} On 25 July 2020 she surpassed Trudy's final age of 63 years, 204 days and became the oldest gorilla ever. After the death of Helen, on 14 October 2022, Fatou became the last surviving gorilla born in the 1950s.{{cn |date=December 2023}}

Through her only offspring, Dufte, Fatou is a grandmother of two, great-grandmother of 13 (five living), great-great-grandmother of 20 (twelve living) and great-great-great-grandmother of three.{{cite web |url=https://www.dewarwildlife.org/jrdavis-gorilla-studbook/0082.htm |title=0082 – FATOU |last=Davis |first=James R. |date=September 5, 2021 |website=Dewar Wildlife |publisher=Dewar Wildlife Trust, Inc. |access-date=September 5, 2021}}