Dec. 16: The Assam State Zoo today lost one of its prized possessions ? a 27-year-old giraffe called Saraswati.

Officials said Saraswati, one of the oldest animals in the zoo, died in the morning hours of old age, leaving visitors and zookeepers in tears. The life span of giraffes is about 28 years in India.

With Saraswati?s death, there is only one other giraffe in the zoo ? 17-year-old Lakshmi who was born in the zoo.

Most of the visitors present were at a loss to see the giraffe collapse around 10 am. ?She was very dear to our children and was one of the main attractions. The zoo authorities should now act fast to find a suitable replacement,? said Umesh Sarma, who often takes his three-year-old son Angad to the zoo.

Zoo officials said Saraswati was kept under strict surveillance as she was not keeping well for the past two months.

A crane was called in to remove her body in the morning. ?There was some improvement in her condition in the last 10 days but she suddenly collapsed. It is a big loss. She was one of the major attractions,? divisional forest officer of the zoo, Narayan Mahanta, said.

Saraswati was born at the zoo in 1977 and was not keeping well for the last two months. The zoo veterinarians along with experts from the College of Veterinary Sciences, Khanapara, had been providing the necessary treatment, Mahanta said.

?We were hoping that she would live longer and provide more joy to the visitors who come and wait near her enclosure,? a zookeeper said.

The oldest surviving animal in the zoo is a 35-year-old rhino called Mohan.

A one-month-old elephant calf, Lakhi, which was rescued and sent to the Assam State Zoo, had died recently because of disease. As many as 43 animals had died in 2002-03 at the Assam State Zoo. The animals included 33 mammals, eight birds and two reptiles.

Deaths due to senility accounted for .8 per cent, diseases (5 per cent), infighting (3.1 per cent) and accidents (.2 per cent). A health advisory committee has been set up in the zoo by the government to take every possible care on the health of the animals.