15 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

Donna, believed to be the world's oldest hippo, has died at the age of 62 after living more than two decades beyond the massive mammal's usual life expectancy, zoo officials said.

http://www.telegraph...es-aged-62.html

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

wow kind of sad to hear it but thats the way life goes

[schizoidwoman]

RIP Donna!

[Timonthy]

Could be an older one in the wild...

[libstaK]

What Timonthy said.  I always wonder when someone says that such and such an animal or human is the "world's oldest".  Is there some busy scientist running round tallying up the age of every living member of every species somewhere?

[Timonthy]

libstaK, on 04 August 2012 - 09:56 AM, said:

What Timonthy said.  I always wonder when someone says that such and such an animal or human is the "world's oldest".  Is there some busy scientist running round tallying up the age of every living member of every species somewhere?

It's like a mild case of false advertising. Even oldest living/oldest ever lived human as per Guinness World Records may not be correct. Biological anomalies such as full body skin regeneration after mass skin loss or overcoming cancer etc. lend to the idea that there are things in nature that just don't fit the mould...

[OnlineCriticChick]

RIP Donna :( t least she suffers no more..

[Mistydawn]

I didn't know hippos could live 40-50 years. Sounds like she had an ok life except for the arthritis at the end;  I wonder what they'll do with her body? Never actually seen a dead hippo on any wild-life media...

[SameerPrehistorica]

That is sad ..

[Sundew]

That's really too bad, kind of like when George the Galapagos Tortoise died . But I swear I've seen older ones than that at the local buffet. I try not to get near their mouths, might lose an arm.

Edited by Sundew, 04 August 2012 - 01:43 PM.

[King Fluffs]

That hippo has the same name as my mother.
:-D

[Device]

Aaw, 62. Poor old Donna. May she swim, unimpeded, forever more - in that great watering hole in the sky.

Rest in peace Donna.

Rest in peace.

[siggiesis]

Whaaaa....I feel really bad and sad for the hippo. Then, I got a pang of dread because I have arthritis in my toes and I don't want to be euthanized (humane or no, but if I must, humane). I bite though.

[calobwilliams]

I live in Evansville, a few blocks from the zoo, i remember going down to the zoo, watching Donna, one of my friends is the Zoo director's daughter. I remember the pictures of all the animals, the wolves, and Donna. She put our small-ish town on the world maps.

[EllJay]

I read
"World's oldest hippie dies aged 62"
and thought -damn, doesn't they get older than that?

Anyway, safe passage to the happy hunting-grounds Donna.