What is possibly the oldest great ape in the world is dead: Bonobo female Margrit died at the Frankfurt Zoo last Friday at the age of more than 70.

Daniel Meuren

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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According to the zoo, Margrit died with her group.

The elderly female, who had lived on the Main for more than six decades, was doing well until the end. Only two days before her death did the carers who were familiar with her notice slight changes.

She was a little less active and didn't eat her usual amounts.

However, there were no signs of pain, the zoo said in a statement.

In 2008 Margrit witnessed the great apes moving to the Borgori Forest with its spacious indoor and outdoor areas.

"Margrit was a personality, friendly, cooperative and with a mischievous spirit.

Her death makes us sad and leaves a gap, especially for the colleagues who have cared for and looked after her over many years," says zoo director Christina Geiger.

“She died within minutes under the watchful eye of the care team while the younger female Hannah sat at her side.

Margrit had an unusually long life and was popular and respected among her peers.

Now it was time for her to go.”

Offspring in 17 zoos

Margrit was probably born in the Congo rainforest in the early 1950s.

In November 1959 she came to Frankfurt Zoo together with another female Bonobo from Kinshasa Zoo.

She had offspring seven times.

The zoo also owes her the world's first breeding of bonobos in 1962. Three of her children still live in the zoos of Wuppertal, Cologne and La Vallée des Singes in France.

Margrit currently has more than 80 living descendants.

Bonobos are kept in only 19 zoos worldwide, 17 of which have their offspring.

In the meantime, she even has great-grandchildren of the fifth generation - some of them still live in Frankfurt.

The fact that animals that were born in the wild still live in zoos today is rather the exception.

With the enactment of the 1975 Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, commercial trade in species critically endangered by these activities was banned.

Numerous breeding programs ensure that zoo populations can be maintained in the long term and with sufficient genetic diversity without importing wild animals.