By Kacey Deamer, Staff Writer |
June 8, 2017 06:07pm ET
It's a boy! The Philadelphia Zoo
recently welcomed a new addition to its gorilla family, with the help of
doctors who normally treat humans.
A gorilla
labor is typically quick and does not cause distress to the mother,
according to zoo officials. However, zookeepers noticed that first-time mom
Kira's labor was not progressing in normal fashion. When the 17-year-old
western lowland gorilla grew
tired and showed symptoms of feeling unwell, the zoo brought in veterinarians
and other medical professionals to assist in the delivery using tools and
procedures that are standard in human births. (Human and gorilla physiology is
very similar.)
The team succesfully delivered
the as-yet-unnamed baby gorilla, a healthy 5-pound (2 kilograms) boy, on
Friday, June 2.
"Our veterinary team had an
advance plan in place that had us prepared for scenarios like this — and in
this case that plan, and the skill of our keeper team, enabled a safe delivery
for both Kira and her baby," Andy Baker, the Philadelphia Zoo's chief
operating officer, said in a
statement. "It was an anxious and dramatic day at the Zoo, but in
the end a tremendously rewarding one."
The baby gorilla's birth is also
cause for celebration for the critically endangered western
lowland gorilla population. Poaching, disease and habitat loss led the
global populations in the wild to drop of more than 80 percent over three
generations, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN).
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