Death
Ah Meng died on 8 February 2008 due to old age. She was 48 years old, or 95 orangutan years, and is survived by two sons, Hsing Hsing and Satria, and three daughters, Medan, Hong Bao (Named for the red envelopes given to relatives during Chinese New Year, and the reddish hair orangutans have), and Sayang (a Malay word term similar to darling in English), as well as six grandchildren.
On 10 February 2008, a high-profile memorial service for Ah Meng was held before a crowd of 4000 visitors at the Singapore Zoo.
As a tribute to her, the next orangutan born at the Singapore Zoo will be named Ah Meng Junior. A durian tree will be planted at her grave because durian was her favourite fruit. A life-sized bronze statue forged in her image was also unveiled.
Read more about this topic: Ah Meng
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.... Any mans death diminishes me because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
—John Donne (c. 15721631)
“Life is in the mouth; death is in the mouth.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 60, lelo NoEau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)