The Manila Zoo said goodbye to their oldest resident last Friday. Zoo officials told CNN that the 65 year-old hippopotamus named Queen Bertha passed away of natural causes.
The zoo estimates that Queen Bertha entered the world in 1952, the same year Queen Elizabeth II assumed the throne she still holds today.
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Bertha was present when the zoo opened in 1959, but, given that wild hippos don’t come with birth certificates, it is difficult to determine her exact age. If the zoo’s estimations are accurate, the 65-year-old Bertha would have been the oldest recorded hippo to have lived in captivity.
Bertha’s longtime life partner, another hippo named Bert, passed away in 2008.
Despite hippos’ aggressive reputation, employees of the Manila Zoo described Bertha as being a sweet creature.
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"When I went inside to see her, trying to feed her, she would often greet me with an open mouth. Hippos are supposed to be the number one killer in Africa, but not Bertha -- she was so gentle," zoo volunteer Jerry Young told CNN.
Volunteers also fondly recalled how Bertha loved sweet corn and cabbage, treats which she was fed every week on Saturdays.
Queen Bertha lived a remarkably long life — the average life expectancy of hippos is only 36 years. Donna, a hippo from the Mesker Park Zoo in indiana, came close to Bertha’s record-setting lifespan but passed away in 2012 at age 62.
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Hippos are considered at risk of being endangered, primarily because their natural habitat has been greatly reduced over the past 200 years. As human settlement continues to expand and previously undisturbed land is developed, hippos will be further threatened.
The Manila zoo plans to commemorate Queen Bertha in a small tribute this july on the 58th anniversary of the zoo.