A baby gorilla from a critically endangered species has been welcomed as the latest resident at London Zoo.
Mother Mjukuu gave birth to the adorable infant at 9.34am on Wednesday after an eight-and-a-half month pregnancy. Zookeepers are yet to confirm the sex of the child.
London Zoo has hailed the birth of the western lowland gorilla as a cause for celebration given the species' critically endangered status in the wild.
Their population has plummeted by 60 per cent over the past 25 years due to illegal poaching and disease.
While doing their morning duties, the gorilla keepers at London Zoo noticed that Mjukuu was about to give birth. They decided to give her some room and watched over her using the CCTV cameras in the dens.
Just after having her baby in the privacy of the back dens, Mjukuu, now a mum for the second time, was seen lovingly holding her little one.
She even let the troop's young and curious gorillas, Alika and Gernot, take a peek at the new addition.
London Zoo’s Primates Section Manager Kathryn Sanders said: “We started our day as normal – we gave the gorillas their breakfast and began our cleaning routines. When we returned to their back dens,we could see Mjukuu was starting to stretch and squat – a sign that she was in labour.
“After a very quick labour – just 17 minutes – Mjukuu was spotted on camera tenderly holding her newborn and demonstrating her wonderful mothering instincts – cleaning her infant and checking it over.”
The infant was fathered by Kiburi, who arrived at London Zoo from Tenerife in November 2022 as part of the international conservation breeding programme for western lowland gorillas.
Kathryn added: “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.”
