50-year-old gorilla dies in Atlanta

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ATLANTA, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- The Zoo Atlanta announced the death of Ivan, a 50-year-old western lowland gorilla who had lived at the facility since 1994.

The zoo said Ivan, born in the wild in 1962 and brought to the United States by wildlife traders in 1964, was the most asked-about animal on the zoo's Facebook page and receives frequent inquiries from those who remember him as the gorilla owned by the B&I department store in Tacoma, Wash.

"We'd love him even if he weren't one of our special senior gorillas, a member of an irreplaceable generation that now represents some of the world's oldest living members of his species," the zoo said in a release. "We'd love him even if he weren't one of our most famous residents. We'd love him even if he didn't still attract scores of well wishes, greetings, questions and Facebook posts from hundreds of friends and fans who have never forgotten him. We'd love him anyway, because we've had the honor and the privilege of sharing 17 years of an extraordinary life."