One of the animal world's most incredible stories of resilience and happy endings came to a quiet close yesterday: Gregoire, Africa's oldest known chimpanzee and a national hero in the Republic of Congo, died in his sleep.

Caretakers found Gregoire dead in his bed of eucalyptus leaves yesterday morning at JGI's Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center, a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees, in the Republic of Congo. In notifying JGI staff members and volunteers around the world, Dr. Goodall's assistant Mary Lewis wrote: "We have some sad news from the Congo today. Early this morning our old friend Gregoire was found dead in his room. It appears that he died naturally in his sleep and he will be buried at the sanctuary which gave him a safe haven in his latter years."

As news of Gregoire's death circulated yesterday, messages of condolence and sympathy made their way to Jane and JGI from around the world.