A black rhino believed to be the oldest in the world has died in Tanzania at the age of 57, according to authorities in Ngorongoro where the animal lived.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority said in a statement on Saturday that the female rhino, Fausta, is thought to have died of natural causes on 27 December in a sanctuary after living most of her life in the wild.
“Records show that Fausta lived longer than any rhino in the world and survived in the Ngorongoro, free-ranging, for more than 54 years” before she was moved to a sanctuary in 2016, said the statement.
Fausta was first spotted in 1965 in Ngorongoro crater when she was three years old.
For 54 years she roamed the crater freely but health issues in her old age required her to spend her time receiving special care in a sanctuary.
Zoologists estimate the life expectancy of rhinos to be between 37 and 43 years in the wild, while they can live longer in detention.
In 2017, Sana, the oldest white rhino at the time, died in captivity at the La Planete Sauvage Zoological Park in France.
