The Associated Press

TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo Zoo's aged male hippopotamus was euthanized after it collapsed, apparently because of an age-related illness, zoo officials said.

Cupid was not standing and would not get up when a keeper tried to let it in Monday night, zoo spokesman Andi Norman said.

The hippo had shown no previous signs of ill health, Norman said. A necropsy will be performed.

Cupid, an estimated 49 years old, was captured in the wild of Africa as a calf in August 1955 and brought to the Toledo Zoo.

He had 14 offspring - 13 with Bubbles, also about 49 years old, and one with Emma. Six of the seven surviving progeny were transferred to other facilities. The other, Herbie, nearly 3 years old, is on exhibit in the zoo's Hippoquarium, with Bubbles and Emma.

The average maximum age of hippos in the wild is at least a decade younger, zoo officials said.