Nonja (June 12, 1952 – December 29, 2007) was a female

sumatran orangutan The Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') is one of the three species of orangutans. Critically Endangered, and found only in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, it is rarer than the Bornean orangutan but more common than the recent ...

who was thought to be the oldest of her species in either the wild or captivity. She was 55 years old when she died in 2007. Most orangutans die before they reach their mid-40s, which made Nonja unique and likely the oldest living orangutan in the world at the time. Nonja, whose name meant "girl" in

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regar ...

, was captured in the wild and brought to the Wassenaar Zoo in the Netherlands in 1955. She was thought to be about 2–3 years old at the time. She was transferred to the Miami MetroZoo (now Zoo Miami) on October 4, 1983, where she spent the rest of her life. Nonja gave birth to five children. Nonja died at the Miami MetroZoo on Saturday, December 29, 2007. Experts believe that she died of either a brain tumor or an aneurysm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nonja 1952 animal births 2007 animal deaths Individual animals in the Netherlands Individual animals in the United States Individual orangutans

See also

References