Here is an important death, many are not aware of.--Sept 5, 2008

The oldest gorilla in captivity, a 55-year-old female named Jenny, has died at the Dallas Zoo, her home for more than half a century, a spokesman said Friday.

Jenny the gorilla celebrated her 55th birthday at the Dallas Zoo in May.

Zoo officials decided to euthanize Jenny on Thursday night because of an inoperable tumor in her stomach. Jenny had stopped eating and drinking recently, and tests showed that she was unlikely to recover, spokesman Sean Greene said.

"The last couple of weeks, we noticed that she hadn't been feeling all that great," Greene said. "It was a quality-of-life decision."

The International Species Information System, which maintains records on animals at 700 institutions around the world, confirmed this year that Jenny was the oldest gorilla in its database.