31-year-old orangutan dies at Los Angeles Zoo

Minyak, a 31-year-old male orangutan, has passed away, the Los Angeles Zoo announced Friday.

Minyak was undergoing a routine check-up to assess a chronic respiratory illness he has had since infancy, called air sacculitis, according to a statement from the zoo cited by KTLA-TV.

The orangutan was under the care of both zoo veterinarians and his pulmonologist when he suffered from cardiac and respiratory arrest and could not be resuscitated Thursday, the TV station reported.

Officials say it was Minyak’s poor health that brought him to the L.A. Zoo in December 2001 from his home at Yerkes Primate Center in Atlanta, a behavioral research facility.

Even with all his medical issues, Minyak fathered two female baby orangutans at the zoo. Zookeepers described him as a fighter.

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-- From a Times staff writer

Photo: Minyak the organgutan at the Los Angeles Zoo. Credit: Los Angeles Zoo.