Local Chimp Celebrates 50th Birthday

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- A 600-pound ice sculpture, birthday cake, a couple of piñatas and some kids singing 'Happy Birthday' will all be part of the celebration today for a resident of Lincoln Park Zoo who has been 'hanging around' there for most of his life.

WBBM’s Bernie Tafoya reports.

Keo the chimp turns 50 this week. That’s roughly 90 years old for a human.

Primate Curator Sue Margulis says Keo is in amazing shapeand has been a fan favorite for years. He was captured in West Africa as a baby and has been at the zoo ever since, except for two years when his current habitat was being built.

Keo lives in a habitat with three female chimps including his 43-year old daughter June. Margulis speculates on his secret to long life as, "eating right, getting exercise and living with a lot of women."

Keo has fathered 11 chimps, only two of which are still alive.

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