Public notice - Zoo update - Cassius

Published on 31 March 2025

Update from Rockhampton Zoo on Cassius: 

Over the last 30 years, many people in Rockhampton have grown up with Cassius, our 53 year old chimpanzee, as a part of their life. He is a gorgeous old soul who manages to capture the heart of everyone he meets.  However, at 53 years old, Cassius is nearing the end of his life. He is currently the oldest male chimpanzee in Australasia.  In the wild, he would not have reached this age, with the average lifespan of a wild chimpanzee ranging between 30 and 40 years. 

Cass has been moving slowly and stiffly for some time now due to arthritis and general physical decline. Sadly we are also starting to see a mental decline. Just like humans, chimpanzees can experience dementia and other age related complications, and we are confident we are seeing dementia take hold of Cassie. At the moment, we are able to manage his arthritic pain and mental decline with medication. Currently he is coping well, still engaging with the troop, but there will be a time when for his comfort and welfare, we will need to say goodbye as we love him too much to let him suffer. 

We wanted to share this with the public as we know he holds a special place in the people of Rockhampton’s hearts, and wanted to give people the opportunity to spend time with him before we say goodbye. In saying that, we don’t know if that will be in a week, a month, six months or longer, it will depend on his decline. Hopefully for him (and all of us), it will be many months away.