Max, South Africa’s famous crime-fighting gorilla, died in his sleep early on Wednesday morning, the Johannesburg Zoo announced.
”The death of Max is a great loss to the zoo and he will be sorely missed,” the statement said.
It said the cause of death was not yet clear and the zoo would conduct a post mortem.
Max made headlines in 1997 when he a beat up a runaway thief who jumped into his cage in the Johannesburg Zoo.
The great ape was also in the news three years ago after refusing to mate with his ”girlfriend”, Lisa.
Since then he has been a star attraction at the zoo, and a national hero. — Sapa