Berlin Zoo mourns death of flamingo Ingo, believed to have been 75
Ingo the flamingo, believed to be the oldest resident of the Berlin Zoological Garden, has died, the institution announced.
"Ingo the flamingo passed away at the age of 75," the zoo announced on Instagram late Wednesday. "The pink flamingo had lived in Berlin since 1955 - truly a legend!"
Numerous people were saddened by the news on Instagram and posted crying smileys and messages of condolence under the zoo's post.
An inscription on a ring around Ingo's leg, discovered several years ago, indicates that the bird was born in Cairo on June 23, 1948. That would make Ingo older than a gorilla at the zoo, Fatou, who was born in 1957.
It remains uncertain whether the date was indeed when Ingo was hatched, as other documents confirming the event have not survived.
Flamingos live to be around 30 years old on average in the wild.
According to the zoo, the Berlin Zoo was the first in Germany to breed Chilean and pink flamingos from the early 1960s onwards. Ingo probably also sired offspring, the zoo said, but no records were kept to confirm this.
How did Ingo survive such a long time? Zookeeper Thomas Lenzner once explained that it's partly due to a lack of natural predators at the zoo, as well as high-quality veterinary care and optimized food that contains certain colorants (carotenoids) that are responsible for the delicate pink of the plumage.
Due to his age, Ingo sometimes needed some rest from his fellow birds and limped a little, according to Lenzner.
