HOMOSASSA, Fla. — The oldest hippo in North America turned 59 Monday.

Lu the hippo has been a staple at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park for decades. The park threw a birthday party Monday to celebrate, and dozens of people attended. 

"I got very emotional when I realized he's still alive," Robert North said. 

North came down from Ohio to celebrate Lu's birthday. He first met Lu when he visited the park with his dad when he was just five years old. 

"For him to have captured everybody's hearts over these decades and for him to still be here, I find myself wishing so much that he knew I was here. But, he doesn't need to know that. He just knows that he's loved obviously," North said. 

Lu has been at the park for nearly 55 years. 

When the state took over the park in 1989, they decided to feature wildlife native to Florida and re-home the exotic species. 

But the public wanted Lu to stay and the state granted him a special Florida citizenship. 

"He is one of the remaining common threads between the roadside attraction days where people would travel to the beach by car and need somewhere to stop with their families to the current state park status," said Park Services Specialist Kate Spratt. 

The park staff said Lu is starting to show some signs of old age, which is why they say these birthdays are so special.

"As Lu has slowed down we've worked with our veterinarian to have a program both, his diet and medically, that we can help him out to have the best life possible," Spratt explained. 

It's a birthday celebration they hope to continue to get to have for years to come. 

Lu was part of the Ivan Tors Animal Actors Troupe and appeared in movies and TV shows in the 1960s like Daktari and Cowboys in Africa.