Friday, September 28, 2012

........and then there were 5!

It's a real pleasure to go to work each morning and see images like this. Kahilli, one of our female Western Lowland gorillas, surprised her keepers by having given birth early yesterday morning..........they didn't think she was due until November!


Kahilli is a very caring Mum as can be seen in this video

Kahilli & baby
Yesterday also happened to be 1st time dad,  Badongo's 13th birthday! 

Last summer I was very privileged to have accompanied a gorilla transfer as a French interpreter when we transported our former silverback Ya Kwanza (who wasn't too interested in breeding) to a new gorilla bachelor group & brought a young bouncy Badongo back to Jersey, see the transfer video here

New dad Badongo

Kahilli & Kishka on the right
Kishka our eldest female is staying very close to Kahilli & the baby. You can often catch her trying to get a good look at the newborn.

She's even made it into the UK National headlines here

Congratulations Kahilli, we are all very proud of her at Durrell.

(Can you tell I have a little weakness for Gorillas? lol)

6 comments:

ashazart said...

Very cool Gisele! I loved the video of Kahilli and her new baby. Cynthia

Cathi said...

What a wonderful story -- the pictures are great and the video is an absolute treasure to watch.

Sandra Henderson said...

Oh my goodness! The video brought tears to my eyes. So fascinating! Hard to wrap ones mind around it all. I mean, they are so human like. Simply amazing. What a very special experience for all of you there. ENJOY!~ Thanks for sharing. XO

Sandra Henderson said...

Had to come back over and take another look and show Grover. He says THAT IS AMAZING!~

Shirley said...

I am like Sandra and have had to watch the little video several times. It is so touching for such a big and powerful creature to be so tender. I remember when the little boy fell into the gorilla pit at Jersey Zoo some years ago and one of the gorillas looked after the little boy until help arrived. Amazing creatures.

Daniëlle said...

Treasure this weakness Gisele! Amazing creatures aren't they?! Misunderstood for such a long time. Did Kishka ever had a baby? Thanks so much for sharing, have to let my husband watch when he comes home! Big hug, Daniëlle