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At Washington D.C.'s National Zoo, the staff were puzzled and stunned when Mopie, a strong, muscular, healthy-looking western lowland gorilla able to put away 7 pounds of food a day, suddenly collapsed the afternoon of July 3, 2006 after playing with some newly introduced mates.By the time the keepers cleared out the other gorillas and performed CPR on Mopie, the gentle, 430-pound gorilla was lifeless, a victim of heart failure at age 34.Lisa Stevens, curator of primates and giant pandas at...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 23-year-old western lowland gorilla named Kuja died at Washington's National Zoo on Saturday while having surgery for heart disease, officials said. The animal was one of the zoo's two adult male western lowland gorillas, which are an endangered species native to the tropical rain forests of western and central Africa. Kuja died as veterinarians from the University of Alabama and Auburn University tried to implant an electronic cardiac device that zoo...