This great star of ours has been cited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest chimpanzee (or primate - excluding humans) alive. National Geographic news says that the average life span of a chimp in the wild is 40 - 45 years, and for the ones bred in captivity it is 50. Our hero is 75 and celebrated his birthday on April 9th. He's the chimp who stared in the old Tarzan movies in the 1930's and also appeared in Doctor Dolittle, which is apparently his last appearance on silver screen.
Cheeta currently lives in California at the CHEETA Primate Sanctuary, Inc., (C.H.E.E.T.A. stands for Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered & Threatened Apes) where many more ex-show business primates dwell. Dan Westfall takes care of these retired heroes. I really appreciate his gesture towards our fellow-beings.. :)
Oh and did you know, Cheeta paints too. He does a lot of abstract paintings (termed as Ape-stract apparently) and they are available for sale. You can purchase them from here and your donations goes towards the dhek-bal of our ex-showmen. Seems Cheeta, picks a color if you cant choose one yourself! :D Cute.. Isn't he....?
