Kolkata zoo’s star chimpanzee Babu celebrates 34th birthday in style

The popular Alipore Zoo in Kolkata was abuzz with activity on Wednesday, October 26, as one of its superstar inmates, Babu the chimpanzee celebrated his 34th birthday. Asis Kumar Samanta, the Director of the Zoo planned and led the birthday bash for this star attraction.

Babu’s enclosure was decked up with flowers and a best wishes board also placed for the multitude of visitors and his fans to post their signed messages.

To make the day special, the Zoo authorities curated a special lunch for Babu, that included a variety of fruits and lettuce.

Keeping up with his nature, Babu entertained his well-wishers by hopping, skipping and jumping around in the enclosure. The crowds watched it while cheering and wishing him happy birthday.

Besides the fruits, Babu had a fruit cake to enjoy while the visitors too enjoyed the other two cakes kept for them. Among his admirers who came to greet him were actors Swastika Mukherjee, Mir Afsar Ali and Sohini Sengupta and Saptarshi Moulik, the two had adopted Babu two years ago.

Interestingly, as per projectchimps.org the mean life expectancy for chimps in captivity is 32.5 years for males and 40.1 for females.

Born in Germany in 1988, Babu was brought to Chennai’s Arignar Anna Zoological Park in 1989 along with his partner Rani. In 1998 he along with Rani was moved to Alipore. His companion Rani died in 2011.