{"id":159711,"date":"2025-08-20T00:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T00:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/159711\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T00:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T00:16:10","slug":"san-diego-zoos-30-year-old-western-lowland-gorilla-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/159711\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Zoo&#8217;s 30-year-old Western lowland gorilla dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During this week\u2019s exam, Maka experienced an unexpected cardiac arrest and passed away, despite the efforts of the zoo\u2019s wildlife health and care teams.<\/p>\n<p>SAN DIEGO \u2014 Maka, a 30-year-old Western lowland gorilla at the San Diego Zoo, died this week. He was surrounded by the wildlife care team, who knew and loved him deeply, the zoo shared in a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SanDiegoZoo\/posts\/pfbid0aoB3WsC5627bTtg7WkBK8z4RbVbwcVTy7LANHedYoagsxAbFY3ZaJmBBhUNaTreml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> social media post<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being diagnosed with chromosomal abnormalities at the age of 5, Maka \u201cthrived under the dedication and skill of his wildlife health and care teams, exceeding expectations and living with grace and vitality for decades,\u201d the San Diego Zoo said.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, he experienced brief seizures, prompting the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance team to monitor his wellness and schedule continuous comprehensive evaluations. During this week\u2019s exam, the zoo said the Western lowland gorilla experienced an unexpected cardiac arrest. Despite the efforts of the zoo\u2019s wildlife health and care teams, Maka passed away, according to the organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach of the over 12,000 wildlife at the San Diego Zoo touches our lives in immeasurable ways, and this has been an unimaginably difficult period for our wildlife health and care teams, who forge profound bonds with each individual in their care,\u201d the San Diego Zoo said. \u201cWe ask for your continued support and understanding as they navigate the complex journey of grief while maintaining their unwavering commitment to all the wildlife under their stewardship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its Facebook post, the zoo recalled Maka as \u201ctruly the heart of our bachelor troop.\u201d Born at the San Diego Zoo, he guided his younger brothers, Ekuba and Denny, with patience and steadiness. Described as a \u201csmall-but-mighty leader,\u201d he naturally took the role of mentor and earned his siblings\u2019 respect and devotion. His brothers were able to spend time with Maka after his passing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Maka&#8217;s legacy lives on through the conservation work he helped advance and the countless guests who came to understand the intelligence and gentleness of Western lowland gorillas through knowing him,\u201d the San Diego Zoo said. \u201cHis quiet leadership and enduring spirit will always be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During this week\u2019s exam, Maka experienced an unexpected cardiac arrest and passed away, despite the efforts of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-159711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-sandiego","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115058218552425739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}