Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Cheetah Has Died


Cheetah, a chimpanzee who starred alongside Tarzan in the franchise films of the early 1930s, died Saturday. He had experienced kidney failure earlier that week, and was thought to be 80 years old.

The average captive chimp lives to be about 60.

17 comments:

The Black Cat said...

OMG, that is incredible

Rose said...

I had no ideas their life span was so long, even 60 years. I wish dogs could have the same.

Jasmine said...

I think it's really cool that you did a post on this, Enty :))

RIP Cheetah- you lived a hellava long life. Though it sucks you were captive.

Jasmine said...

Also, Cheetah is a dumb name for a freaking CHIMP. Why didnt they just name him Flipper, while they were brainstorming these 'fantastic' names for him.

__-__=__ said...

Well, after all, the guys name was Tarzan! Cheetah was about as good as it was going to get.

Is this the same monkey that played with Regan?

Robert said...

I agree with Jasmine. And I'm surprised to find Cheetah was still alive in 2011!

timebob said...

ahhh i remember these movies as a kid (reruns thankyouverymuch)

sad news, RIP Mr. Cheetah.

MISCH said...

I read it this morning...amazing

ablake said...

Wasn't Bonzo the one who played with Reagan?

I'm curious as to whether they live longer in the wild or in captivity.

Momster said...

I was reading about this chimp on a Yahoo story. He was more talented than the Kardashians all put together.

Rita said...

@Momster LMAO!! Right on the money!

Melody the First said...

Cheetah smoked and drank beer up until about ten years ago when his original owners died out. If he hadn't done that, who knows how long he'd have lived. He had his own vet, which most chimps don't often have.

nunaurbiz said...

Now it looks like this might just be a hoax. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/cheetah-the-chimp-death-hoax_n_1173404.html?ref=entertainment

Sherry said...

I thought I heard on Wait Wait that while they tell everyone this is (was) Cheetah that it was a big story and Cheetah actually died years ago. Also according to Wiki there have been several "Cheetah's"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheeta

Henriette said...

I think this story is a hoax. I don't think chimps live that long.

Electric Warrior said...

Momster you made me not only LOL but type LOL. Which, for whatever reason, I rarely do.

Melody the First said...

It's not a hoax. There were several Cheetahs, however this old guy was one of them. Chimps in captivity live to be 50-60. Chimps with medical care and a nutritionist (to say nothing of temperature controlled habitats) live longer. Humans are closely related to chimps. We live to be in our 80s as a matter of course.

There have been a couple of journalists bent on revisionism, but the fake Cheetah stuff was debunked long ago. The chain of custody of this old fellow is fairly clear -- he had outlived a couple of handlers, but the records are there. He was A Cheetah ... only Tarzan and Jane know if he was one of the primary "little bastards" ... as he was known on the set. Chimps aren't friendly co-stars.

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