Kolkata, June 26 (IANS) A 24-year-old male chimpanzee housed in the Alipore zoo here died Saturday after a prolonged illness, an official said.

‘It was due to prolonged illness that the chimpanzee – Tuzo – died today (Saturday),’ said Alipore Zoological Garden director Raju Das.

The chimpanzee was suffering from a liver infection and was not eating for the past 10 days. Tuzo’s condition became critical Friday and it died of multi-organ failure, said Das.

Tuzo was brought to the zoo in 1997 from Britain.

The zoo had four chimpanzees a couple of months back but is now left with only two.

Earlier, a 22-year-old female chimpanzee – Jessy – fell from a tree and died April 8.