{"id":136699,"date":"2026-02-17T22:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136699\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:39:08","slug":"bronx-zoos-amazing-blind-gorilla-ntondo-dies-of-acute-cardiac-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136699\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronx Zoo&#8217;s &#8216;amazing&#8217; blind gorilla, Ntondo, dies of &#8216;acute cardiac event&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/27\/us-news\/bronx-zoo-welcomes-baby-pygmy-slow-loris\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Bronx Zoo\u2019s<\/a> beloved blind gorilla, who was featured in an Animal Planet docuseries, died of an \u2018acute cardiac event,\u201d the zoo announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Ntondo, a male western lowland gorilla\u00a0who lived in the zoo for more than a decade, was pronounced dead on Sunday. He was 32 years old.<\/p>\n<p>The ape had become a popular attraction in the Bronx after he was featured<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2017\/02\/17\/bronx-zoos-adorable-animals-ready-for-their-close-up\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> in Animal Planet\u2019s 2017 docuseries<\/a>, \u201cTHE ZOO,\u201d with the first episode following his journey after being diagnosed with glaucoma.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66699219;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38520198\" width=\"394\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/intimidating-silverback-gorilla-posing-stone-121572698.jpg\" alt=\"Silverback gorilla posing on a stone.\" class=\"wp-image-38520198\"  \/>The Bronx Zoo said goodbye to one of its gorilla\u2019s on Sunday after Ntondo, 32, died of an \u201cacute cardiac event.\u201d  RbbrDckyBK \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n<p>The show gave an in-depth look at how the staffers came to realize Ntondo was losing his eyesight, as well as the operation the gorilla underwent to unsuccessfully try and save his vision from deteriorating further.<\/p>\n<p>The docuseries revealed how Ntondo was taken care of by zookeepers in the Bronx following his operation inside the Congo Gorilla Forest habitat, where he learned to maintain his role as a silverback to a group of females.<\/p>\n<p>Despite eventually going blind, the ape was able to properly fulfill his role as he \u201cremained patient, confident and able to navigate complex social situations with the assuredness of an experienced silverback,\u201d the zoo said.<\/p>\n<p>Ntondo, who was born on Feb. 28, 1993, in Canada\u2019s Calgary Zoo, arrived at the Bronx Zoo in 2014 as part of a program to bolster the gorilla population for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His illness and the extra attention he needed always kept the staffers close to him \u2014 making his death even more tragic for the zoo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of his blindness, Ntondo was uniquely bonded to the animal care staff,\u201d the zoo said in a statement.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was an amazing animal and will be missed by all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Bronx Zoo \u2014 one of the largest zoos in the US \u2014 is currently home to 12 gorillas, with the facility housing roughly 53 of the big apes since 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bronx Zoo\u2019s beloved blind gorilla, who was featured in an Animal Planet docuseries, died of an \u2018acute&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[47433,128,25511,1128,57,9,24,63,129,131,130,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-136699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-blind","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-bronx-zoo","11":"tag-gorillas","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-the-bronx","17":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","18":"tag-the-bronx-news","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}