Hurley, One Of The Maryland Zoo's Sitatungas, Dies At Age 13
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Hurley, a 13-year-old sitatunga at the Maryland Zoo, died Tuesday after battling a number of age-related health issues, the zoo said Wednesday.
In a news release, the zoo said Hurley had been suffering from arthritis and other health issues since 2016.
"We recently had been monitoring a significant decline in his weight and mobility, and made the difficult decision to euthanize him. Hurley was a very special sitatunga, and a staff favorite. We will all miss him," the zoo's mammal collection and conservation manager Erin Grimm said in the release.
The sitatunga is a swamp antelope species native to central Africa. In captivity, their median life expectancy in a zoo setting is 5.4 years, though they can live up to 20 years. Their life expectancy is between 10 and 15 years in the wild, according to the zoo.
The rest of the zoo's nine sitatunga live in the African Journey exhibit.
