Tarzan's chimp Cheetah dies at 80

Cheetah with Maureen O' Sullivan and Johnny Weissmuller

Cheetah the chimpanzee who starred in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s has died of kidney failure at the age of 80.The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbour, Florida, said he died of kidney failure on Christmas Eve.

Debbie Cobb, director of the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbour, Florida, where he lived, said that in his retirement the chimp had loved finger painting and seemed particularly attuned to human feelings. He came to the sanctuary from the estate of the star of the Tarzan series, American Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller during the early 1960s.

Mrs Cobb said Cheetah wasn't a troublemaker, but was known to throw his own waste around if he became upset. 

 

Ron Priest, a sanctuary volunteer, said: "When he didn't like somebody or something that was going on, he would pick up some poop and throw it at them. He could get you at 30 feet with bars in between." 

Chimpanzees in zoos usually live 35 to 45 years but Cheetah was cited in The Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest non-human primate. He outlived both Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, who played Jane.