MYSTERIES

Cheeta the Chimp’s Story Questioned

Experts say he couldn’t have starred in Tarzan films.

Say it ain’t so! Several experts are questioning whether the chimpanzee who died in Florida this month actually starred in the 1930s Tarzan films and if he was even 80 years old. "You do understand that this chimpanzee could not possibly have been in these Tarzan films," says R. D. Rosen, who wrote a 2008 Washington Post article debunking claims that another chimpanzee was the original Cheeta in the films. "The idea that this Cheeta could have appeared in these films, had this long career, and now had this wonderful retirement is ridiculous." Steve Ross, the chimpanzee expert at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, says, “I’d paint myself skeptical in this case … To say 80 is really pushing it. In this record, there has never been a chimp that has lived that long.” The oldest chimp currently is in her early 70s.