Jenny, a 213-pound Western Lowland Gorilla, just celebrated her 55th birthday at the Dallas Zoo. According to records kept by the International Species Information System, Jenny is now the oldest gorilla in captivity, and only one of four captive gorillas older than 50 in North America.

Birthday celebration

To help her celebrate, Jenny’s caretakers left her a four-layer frozen fruit cake along with treats wrapped in banana leaves. She scooped up the cake and ate it in private so she wouldn’t have to share with the other primates in her enclosure.

Jenny was born in 1953 in the wilderness of west-central Africa. The Dallas Zoo acquired her in 1957. Eight years later, she gave birth to her first and only baby — a female named Vicki.

Todd Bowsher, curator of the Dallas Zoo’s Wilds of Africa exhibit, told ABC News, “It’s a special milestone for us. It signifies that we’ve made great strides in veterinary care, nutrition and animal husbandry.”

During Jenny’s long life, zookeepers have vastly improved the quality of care they can provide captive gorillas. Forty years ago, it was a different story.

Snowflake: The White Gorilla

In 1967, local villagers in Africa’s Equitorial Guinea captured a young male gorilla unlike any they had seen before. Instead of the thick brown fur of most gorillas, this baby had a coat of pure white. Through a series of fortunate circumstances, the rare white gorilla ended up at the Barcelona Zoo, where he was given the Spanish name Copito de Nieve and the English name Snowflake.

At the time, experts didn’t know much about caring for wild gorillas, so they did their best: they offered Snowflake a surrogate human family. Fortunately, under the care of veterinarian Roman Luera and his wife, Maria, Snowflake thrived. Through Snowflake, zookeepers gained a better understanding of a captive gorilla’s needs.

For more about Snowflake, including video clips, photos, and gorilla resources, visit “Snowflake: The White Gorilla” at Nature online.