Wednesday, 30 October 2013 - 01:48
Baby Gorilla At Burgers' Zoo
The zookeepers of Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem are very happy with the birth of a western lowland gorilla. The baby gorilla who was born on Thursday is the first baby of the nine year old mother Makoua, who has been a problem child.
The mother of the newly born, Makoua, was born in the zoo of Berlin and brought up by zookeepers with milk bottles. The European coordinator for the breeding program for gorillas, decided it was better to move Makoua to Stuttgart. Unfortunately this was no success and the young gorilla couldn’t get used to the other gorillas there.
Five years ago the ape arrived in Burgers’ Zoo. The animal did upon arrival not know anything about the natural behavior of gorillas. Fortunately the experienced team of the zoo in Arnhem was able to learn Makoua step-by-step everything to become a member of the group of gorillas.
That Makoua can now take care for her baby by herself is a real achievement of the team and the young mother.
N'Gayla and her twins - Burgers' Zoo
Rare twin gorillas
Something what the gorilla caretakers could not influence, was the birth at June 13 of this year of twin gorillas in the zoo. Twins are rare among gorillas and are much less common then twins among humans.
The mother of the twins N’Gayla is an experienced mother and both the young gorillas are doing well.
Western lowland gorillas
Western lowland gorillas are fascinating apes who have much in common with humans. Not only shows there intelligence big similarities with humans, there vulnerability to human diseases, like Ebola, is also a fact. Most gorillas in zoos are western lowland gorillas.
Male western lowland gorilla with silverback - wikipedia
The western lowland gorilla can be found in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea as well as in large areas in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Exactly how many of this most numerous and wide spread gorilla species exist in the wild is not exactly known. New populations have been found in dense swampy areas and the total number is expected to be near or slightly more than one hundred thousand.
The population of the western lowland gorillas is under stress. Their territory is declining by the increasing human population also giving rise to more human based infectious diseases. Poaching is another problem, because the animal is one of the favorite bush meats and there skins are highly appreciated.