Congo’s famous mountain gorilla dies at 14 in Virunga Park

NDAKASI, a mountain gorilla who famously posed for a selfie with a ranger at Congo’s Virunga National Park, has died at 14 after a long illness, the park said.

“It is with heartfelt sadness that Virunga announces the death of beloved orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndakasi, who had been under the care of the park’s Senkwekwe Center for more than a decade,” a statement from the park said this week.

“Ndakasi took her final breath in the loving arms of her caretaker and lifelong friend, Andre Bauma,” said the statement, adding that she died on Sept. 26 following a prolonged illness in which her condition rapidly deteriorated.

Ndakasi was just two months old when rangers found her clinging to the lifeless body of her mother who had been gunned down by armed militia in 2007. Bauma comforted her that first night by holding her to his bare chest and he continued