Vip the gorilla, father of seven daughters, dies at Woodland Park Zoo. He was 42

Vip, a 42-year-old western lowland gorilla, died Thursday after spending 25 years at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Vip was named for being a Very Important Primate and was thought to be the “first zoo gorilla born in the Netherlands,” Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo said in a news release.

He had seven daughters and lived with Jumoke, his female companion, at the time of his death.

“Vip was a very striking gorilla. While zoo guests would mistakenly think he was grumpy because of his very low brow ridge, he was quite the opposite. He was an excellent companion and took great interest in each of his daughters,” Martin Ramirez, curator of mammals at Woodland Park Zoo, said in the news release. “As an attentive dad, he led his group with patience, playfulness and kindness.”

Vip outlived the typical life expectancy for male western lowland gorillas by a decade, the zoo said. At 42, he was considered a geriatric gorilla and zoo workers would check on his quality of life multiple times a day.

“Vip had been under close observation by his attentive caretakers and on a prescribed program of analgesics (painkillers) and joint medication,” Darin Collins, Woodland Park Zoo’s director of animal health, said.

In 2015, Vip was anesthetized for a sinus surgery, a routine cardiac ultrasound and an EKG as a preventive health program. Vip was again anesthetized in 2017 for an umbilical hernia surgery repair and in 2021 for a diagnostic exam, the zoo said.

The zoo will perform an animal autopsy on Vip to find a cause of death.

““Losing one of our gorillas is deeply sad for our zoo family,” Ramirez said in the release. “During his 25 years at Woodland Park Zoo, Vip was dearly loved by the zoo’s staff, volunteers, members, donors, visitors and the community. In his own right, he became a very important primate to all of us.”