Doing fine, the gorilla born in rare C-section
Wrapped up warm in a blanket, this tiny newborn gorilla looks so peaceful as she gazes out at the world.
But her birth was highly traumatic after her mother Kera was diagnosed with the potentially life-threatening condition preeclampsia and had to have an emergency caesarean section.
Kera, 11, was tranquilised in Bristol Zoo’s gorilla enclosure after she became poorly and a scan showed her baby was becoming unresponsive. Too big for a stretcher, she was rushed to an on-site clinic in a hammock for the surgery. Her baby, born weighing just 2lb 10oz, then had to be resuscitated by a vet before she finally took her first breath.
As well as being a huge relief for zoo staff, the operation was also pioneering – the baby is thought to be the first gorilla in the UK to be born by caesarean and survive, and one of fewer than ten in the world.
As yet unnamed, she is now getting round-the- clock care, being hand-reared while Kera recovers. Both are doing well. pre-eclampsia affects gorillas in the same way it does pregnant women, causing high blood pressure and fluid retention.
So professor David Cahill, a gynaecologist at the local St Michael’s Hospital, was called in to do the cae- sarean, helped by zoo vet Rowena Killick and her team. He said yesterday: ‘This is probably one of the biggest achievements of my life and something I will never forget.’
Kera, who was born in Barcelona Zoo in 2004 and has lived in Bristol since 2008, is a western lowland gorilla, which are are critically endangered. Adults weigh up to 28st while newborns are usually 4lb. Kera became pregnant last year by one of the zoo’s six other gorillas, Komale, nine, and this baby is her first.