52-year-old Biji the Sumatran orangutan euthanized at Zoo Atlanta
ATLANTA - Zoo Atlanta has announced the death of an original founding member of its great ape population. 52-year-old Biji the Sumatran orangutan was euthanized on Aug. 1.
Biji arrived at Zoo Atlanta in 1988 as part of an original group of orangutans from Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The zoo says orangutans are solitary in nature but Biji took it one step further and demonstrated early and often that she did not prefer the company to other orangutans. Biji spent her much of her time weaving and lounging in her hammock in her outdoor habitat.
The zoo says their veterinary and animal care teams had been treating the geriatric orangutan for advancing kidney failure and due to her poor progress, they made the decision to end her life.
The zoo says that Biji's age was an exception for orangutans, which are considered geriatric after the age of about 40 and is a testament to the state-of-the-art healthcare she received in her years at the Zoo – care that she herself helped to advance. Thanks to an extensive positive reinforcement training program which enabled Biji to be part of her own healthcare, she was able to participate in the voluntary blood draws which originally led the Veterinary Team to diagnose her condition nine years ago, and which have helped the teams to manage her kidney disease.
As is the case with all animal deaths regardless of age or health condition, a necropsy, or the non-human equivalent of an autopsy, will be performed through the Zoo’s partnership with the University of Georgia Zoo and Exotic Animal Pathology Service in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Zoo Atlanta is home to one of North America’s largest populations of orangutans, with nine individuals representing both Sumatran and Bornean orangutans.