One of the oldest female chimps in U.S. zoos dies in Kansas City at age 55

Patty, the matriarch of the Kansas City Zoo's chimpanzee troupe, has died.

Kim Romary, the zoo's director of marketing, said Patty's health deteriorated quickly over the last 10 days or so. On Thursday, caretakers decided to euthanize her.

"Up until then, she had still been going outside and been in the habitat, so it came on pretty quickly," she said.

At 55, Patty exceeded the 37-year-average life expectancy for a female chimpanzee, zoo officials said.

Born in Africa, Patty was one of the oldest and most recognizable residents of the zoo, where she's lived since 1966. She was one of the 10 oldest female chimps at an AZA-accredited zoo, officials said.

Tests will be performed on Patty's body to determine if there were effects from known or unknown health issues. Typically, the zoo will then cremate the remains, Romary said.

Patty had no offspring of her own, but zoo officials said she served as a surrogate mom to Dafina and acted much like a grandma to the entire troop. Most recently, she was helping to look after chimpanzee youngsters Milo and Ruw. Officials said she was always willing to learn new things, but also very set in her ways.

"We're sad over here," Romary said. "She's been here so long, she's just beloved by the zoo staff. She's really going to be missed."

In February, zoo officials said the baby chimp Gracie had been removed from the troop because of a viral infection. Her recovery is ongoing as caretakers are being cautious with her weakened immune system. There's no timeline for her reintroduction to the troop.

"She continues to improve; we're very hopeful she'll make a full recovery," Romary said. "She's tiny, so it's slow. We're taking it day by day, week by week, so we don't have any idea what the long term looks like."

David Frese: 816-234-4463, dfrese@kcstar.com. Twitter: @DavidFrese

This story was originally published April 13, 2018 at 12:56 PM with the headline "One of the oldest female chimps in U.S. zoos dies in Kansas City at age 55."