Proudest mum ever
Gorilla can’t stop kissing her baby after ‘human’ pregnancy
GENTLY holding her newborn son, Calaya gives him a loving kiss to welcome him to the world.
And it was the first of many as the endangered western lowland gorilla delighted in becoming a mum for the first time at the age of 15.
She got pregnant after being taken off the Pill by zookeepers and, like any human mum-to-be, had neonatal classes, scans and ultrasounds during her eight-month pregnancy.
Moke was born on Sunday at Washington DC’s National Zoo in the USA.
Primates curator Meredith Bastian told of the five-hour labour. She said: “Calaya grabbed lots of blankets to brace herself as she pushed.”
As Moke arrived, his 32st father Baraka uttered a “pleasure rumble”.
Melba Brown, Calaya’s trainer, said the gorilla had undergone maternal training, using a stuffed toy as a baby.
Melba said: “She knows what it means to kiss her baby, to touch her baby, to feed her baby.”
GORILLAS have rarely looked more human than the mum gently holding and kissing its newborn in Washington DC.
So lovingly motherly is the magnificent creature called Calaya, she could be used to give parenting classes to feckless humans.