Granger, a more than decade-old cheetah at the National Zoo, has died.

Officials at the zoo said Thursday in a statement that they euthanized the cheetah on Tuesday. It had renal and pancreatic disease.

A preliminary necropsy showed that the “pancreatic disease” was in his abdomen, according to zoo officials.

Granger’s caretakers had observed recently that he was “not eating his entire diet,” the zoo said. And they were “closely monitoring him for his loss of appetite.”

Granger and two of his brothers came to the National Zoo in April 2007 from a conservation center in Florida.

In February, veterinarians did a full exam on Granger in February that he had “worsening symptoms of renal disease.”

The staff monitored him and gave him “the best care possible.” Zoo officials said they decided to euthanize Granger “after it became clear his quality of life was quickly declining.”

The 10 1/2-year-old Granger did not sire offspring, the zoo said in its statement.

“He served as an educational ambassador for his species, illustrating the social nature and behavior of cheetahs to scientists, keepers and zoo visitors,” officials with the zoo said.

In the wild, male cheetahs typically live to be between 6- and 8-years-old. Cheetahs live in isolated populations mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, the zoo said. There are an estimated 7,500 to 10,000 cheetahs left in the wild, and remain “vulnerable to extinction,” according to zoo officials and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

There are two other adult male cheetahs, Justin and Bakari, at the zoo.