Gorilla's gift is egg-actly right

A specially-made Easter egg has been presented as given as a gift to a Western Lowland gorilla.

After a quick inquisitory sniff, silverback Kifu tore the egg-shaped pinata apart after it was handed over by keepers at Howletts Wild Animal Park, near Canterbury, Kent.

Inside the papier-mache shell was a gorilla-friendly feast of seeds, nuts and fruit, which he shared with the rest of his family, including his five mates.

The 22-year-old patriarch has sired eight offspring since being born at the park in 1987.

Howletts, along with its sister zoo, Port Lympne, near Ashford in Kent, currently houses 74 gorillas, believed to be the largest collection in captivity anywhere in the world. The parks are part of the Aspinall Foundation, which is devoted to the conservation of endangered species and returning them to protected areas in the wild.

The intention is to continue to expand the gorilla colony in Kent, as well as returning captive-bred gorillas to Africa via its established rescue and rehabilitation programme in the Congo and Gabon.

In their natural environment of the lowland forests of equatorial Africa, Western Lowland gorillas typically spend around 30% of the day eating, 40% resting, and 30% travelling. Led by the male silverback, gorillas move around a large range foraging for food in the wild.

At Howletts and Port Lympne, keepers try to replicate the conditions the animals would encounter in the wild by dropping fruit and vegetables through the roofs of their enclosures for them to forage for it.

Male gorillas can weigh up to 215kg, and can measure up to 6ft when standing upright. Females are smaller, usually weighing about 90kg.

It is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 Western Lowland gorillas remain in the wild, but their numbers are drastically in decline due to deforestation and the Ebola virus.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090407/tuk-gorilla-s-gift-is-egg-actly-right-6323e80.html