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World's oldest fertile gorilla, orangutan turn 50

The world's oldest fertile gorilla and orangutan in captivity, Matze and Charly, jointly celebrated their 50th birthdays with a cake each at Frankfurt Zoo on Thursday.
Image: Orangutan Charly eats his birthday-cake at the zoo in Frankfurt, Germany
Charly the orangutan eats his birthday cake at Frankfurt Zoo in Frankfurt, Germany, on Dec. 6, 2007. Charly, who has fathered at least 18 orangutans in various zoos all over the world, was celebrating his 50th birthday.Bernd Kammerer / AP
/ Source: Reuters

The world's oldest fertile gorilla and orangutan in captivity, Matze and Charly, jointly celebrated their 50th birthdays with a cake each at Frankfurt Zoo on Thursday.

Matze the gorilla was born in central Africa in 1957 and spent the first years of his life with a troupe of showmen before arriving in Frankfurt in 1962, the zoo said. Charly, born in northern Sumatra, has been at Frankfurt Zoo since 1978.

"Each received a cake made with pastry and mandarin with cream on top — but with no sugar," zoo spokeswoman Caroline Liefke said.

Both are great grandfathers, Matze having fathered 17 children — the latest in April — while Charly has sired more than 18, with the offspring of both spread all over the world.