News / Animals
Bristol baby gorilla is home for Christmas
She may only be 10 months old but Bristol Zoo’s baby gorilla Afia has already made headlines around the world.
Born in February via emergency caesarean section, she has been hand-reared since birth by a team of dedicated keepers.
is needed now More than ever
Now, after more than 1,570 bottle feeds, nearly 1,400 nappies and countless sleepless nights, her keepers have now managed to fully integrate the western lowland gorilla back in with the troop.
Afia is now spending 24 hours a day with her gorilla family; exploring her new home on Gorilla Island, meeting her family or clinging onto her surrogate mother Romina.
Keepers say the process to introduce her to the rest of the troop has been “long and delicate”.
Unsure if she would survive after a traumatic birth, zoo staff dedicated themselves to looking after the baby.
Curator of mammals Lynsey Bugg said that since her birth in February the team looked after her round-the-clock but were “mindful to ensure human imprinting was kept to a minimum”.
She said: “Our ultimate goal has always been to reunite Afia with her gorilla family, so we all feel immensely proud and relieved to now see her where she belongs.”
Afia was born by emergency caesarean section earlier this year and it was touch and go as to whether she or her birth mother, Kera, would survive.
“We all held our breath,” explained Rowena Killick, staff veterinarian at the zoo.
“It was an extremely tense process and the safety of both mother and baby was paramount. When Afia was delivered she needed assistance to help her to breathe.
“Kera was quite slow to recover from general anaesthesia and it soon became clear she was still very unwell.
“She was treated intensively for severe anaemia in the weeks that followed, and finally completed all her treatment eight and a half months later. She was not well enough to care for Afia due to this illness.”
Afia was hand-reared by keepers and at eight months old, she was strong enough to gradually begin meeting other members of the gorilla family.
It was thought that Romina, one of the older females in the troop, would be a good surrogate mother for the baby. Keepers then trained her so that she would return Afia to keepers for bottle feeding several times a day.
Afia is now living with the rest of the troop full time
The keepers also had to consider one very large factor – the leader of the troop silverback heavyweight Jock.
“We staggered the introductions and allowed our silverback gorilla, Jock, to be as involved as much as possible,” Lynsey said.
“We needed to ensure Jock didn’t feel we were intervening in running his troop, and we had to be confident that he would discipline others who were a little excited or rough with Afia.”
Read more: Behind the scenes at Bristol Zoo