(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –A rhino thought to be the oldest in the world has died in Tanzania, aged 57.
Fausta, an eastern black rhino, was first sighted in the Ngorongoro crater in 1965, when she was three.
She roamed the crater freely for more than 54 years, but health issues in her old age required her to spend her final few years receiving specialist care in a sanctuary.
Fausta never had calves – something conservationists in Ngorongoro suggest may have contributed to her long life.
By 2016, Fausta’s eyesight was deteriorating and she was suffering from the lingering effects of hyena attacks.
“Vicious animals, especially hyenas, started attacking her and she received very serious sores,” Dr Freddy Manongi, from the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority, told BBC Swahili. “By 2016, we had to get her out of the wild and put her in special care.”
