Endangered gorilla born at London Zoo
The baby gorilla was born after a labour of just 17 minutes.
London Zoo has announced the birth of a western lowland gorilla, born to Mjukuu after an eight-and-a-half-month pregnancy.
The newborn is a result of the zoo’s conservation programme to save the critically endangered sub-species.
The gorilla keepers were completing their morning duties on Wednesday 17 January when they first saw signs that Mjukuu had gone into labour. They had noticed her in the enclosure’s back dens, where she was starting to stretch and squat.
As Mjukuu’s labour progressed, they left her in the privacy of the gorilla’s back dens to give birth, monitoring her condition using CCTV cameras.
After a quick labour of just 17 minutes, she was spotted on camera cradling her baby. The second-time mother was seen displaying maternal behaviour, cleaning her infant and checking it over.
She then allowed the gorilla troop’s youngsters, Alika and Gernot, to examine the new arrival.
The birth is part of an international conservation breeding programme to increase the population of the critically endangered western lowland gorilla. Poaching and disease has caused the number of sub-species in the wild to decrease by more than 60 per cent in the past 25 years.
The infant’s father, Kiburi, was transported to the zoo from Tenerife in November 2022, to ensure future generations of the species remained genetically diverse and healthy.
The zookeepers have been unable to confirm the sex of the newborn gorilla, who will remain in close contact with its mother for the first six months of its life.
Kathryn Sanders, London Zoo’s primates section manager, said: “To say we’re happy about this new arrival would be a huge understatement – we’ve all been walking around grinning from ear to ear.
“We’ll be giving mum and baby lots of time and space to get to know each other, and for the rest of the troop to get used to their new addition – they’re as excited as we are and can’t stop staring at the baby.”
Image © London Zoo
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