Gorilla Celebrates 57th Birthday

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The San Diego Zoo Safari Park marked a milestone this morning at the habitat for its western lowland gorillas. The troop matriarch, Vila (pronounced VEE-la) turned 57 years old, making her one of the oldest gorillas.
When Vila entered the exhibit, she stopped at the first treats she saw, raisins and Chex Mix, and scooped up every little piece. She eventually worked her way over to her orange ice cake after Winston, the silverback male, ate the first of the three tiers.
The ice cake was colored with a sugar-free, orange-flavored drink mix. Vila, and later other gorillas, licked and scraped ice off the cake. There were also dozens of ice cupcakes that contained sweet potato puree and raisins.
Safari Park volunteers painted boxes to look like presents, and keepers filled the boxes with edible treats like leafy greens, vegetables and air-popped popcorn and smeared peanut butter on the top. Keepers also smeared peanut butter on the pages of magazines placed around the exhibit. There were painted gourds filled with treats that also encourage the gorilla’s natural behavior of foraging for food.
The Safari Park has eight western lowland gorillas - an adult male silverback, four adult females, two young male gorillas and one young female, who made international news when she was delivered via cesarean in March. Vila serves as the matriarch of five generations and has served as a surrogate mother of several hand-raised gorillas during her life. Keepers describe her as a gentle soul that is respected by the troop.
It is estimated that Vila was born in late October of 1957 in the Congo. After arriving in the United States, Vila was hand-raised at the San Diego Zoo and then moved to the Safari Park, and she has lived there since 1975. There are three other western lowland gorillas who are close in age to Vila. The three other oldest-known gorillas live at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio (born Dec. 1958), the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas (born June 1958) and the Berlin Zoo in Germany (born May 1959).