World’s oldest hippo dies in Manila zoo, aged 65

BERTHA, believed to be the world’s oldest hippopotamus, has died aged 65, the Manila zoo said yesterday, having beaten the typical lifespan for the herbivorous mammals by decades.

The 2.5-ton female was found dead in her enclosure on Friday.

Zoo director James Dichaves said a postmortem had concluded that Bertha, the zoo’s oldest resident, had died of multiple organ failure.

“Bertha was among the pioneer animals here. Her mate died sometime in the 1980s and the couple failed to produce any offspring,” he said.

Bertha arrived at the Philippine capital’s zoo in 1959, the year it opened, aged seven.

Dichaves said the zoo had lost its records of where she came from.

Fed a diet of grass, fruit, and bread in a 1 000m² pen, Bertha lived far beyond the 40-to-50-year lifespans typical for the species in the wild and in captivity respectively, Dichaves said.

Zoo officials believed Bertha was the oldest living hippo in captivity at the time of her death.

Donna, who died in 2012 at the age of 62 at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, was previously said to be the world’s oldest hippo, according to media reports at the time.

Two years ago, an adult male hippo named Bertie was euthanised at Colorado’s Denver Zoo aged 58.

Bertha’s death touched off a wave of sympathy on social media.

Twitter user Eric M Davis posted with a crying emoji: “It’s a sad day. Bertha the world’s oldest hippo has passed away.”

Jen Tolibas tweeted: “You’re one of my favourites to see in the zoo ever since. Sleep peacefully.”

The common hippopotamus of sub-Saharan Africa faces a high risk of extinction in the wild from habitat loss and illegal hunting for meat and ivory from its teeth, according to the Swissbased International Union for Conservation of Nature.