A baby gorilla who may have died without a mum to take care of him has now been given a chance at life with a surrogate parent.
Western lowland gorilla Hasani was born in August last year at Bristol Zoo.
His birth mum, Kala, struggled to look after him so keepers had to hand rear him around the clock – up to eight times a day.
Then two months ago they reintroduced him to his mum to see if she would be able to care for him again.
Lynsey Bugg, curator of mammals at Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: ‘We really wanted to get them back together and give Kala another chance to look after him.
‘Once Hasani was sufficiently mobile and physically ready for it, we felt the time was right to try them together again.
‘But despite Kala being very keen to begin with, over time she continued to show the worrying signs of not being able to cope.
‘We really tried everything we could every day over several weeks but in the end we had to accept that it wasn’t working.’
Zookeepers instead introduced the baby gorilla to 16-year-old Kera to see if she would willingly take care of him as her own.
Lynsey, who is also an adviser on gorilla surrogacy, said: ‘Although Kera had no rearing experience, she is very intelligent and we have been able to nurture her behaviour.
‘She has seen several other females rear their youngsters and so had a good foundation on which to build on.
‘All the way through hand rearing, Kera was keen to spend time with Hasani and the two always seemed to get on very well.’
The pair have been slowly introduced to one another, first through a partition and then were allowed to spend increased amounts of time together.
‘It is a question of using experience and judgement to decide how long to leave them,’ Lynsey added.
It is the first time Kera has looked after an infant, after giving birth to daughter Afia five years ago by caesarean section.
But after suffering potentially life-threatening pre-eclampsia, she was so ill another gorilla had to become a surrogate mum to the baby.
Hasani is now spending every day and night with Kera and making good progress.
‘This is a fantastic success,’ said Lynsey, ‘We have taken a young gorilla that would otherwise have died and turned him around and he is back with his fellow gorillas inside of a year. It is an amazing achievement.’
Hasani will remain close to his surrogate mum for the next three to four years while he learns to become more independent.
The keepers now plan to introduce Hasani to the other western lowland gorillas over time.
Lynsey said: ‘Hasani has been near the other gorillas every day and has heard their calls and sounds, so he is used to them.
‘He is developing nicely; he’s very mobile and is eating well. He’s also starting to copy Kera in natural gorilla behaviours such as nest building and stripping bark and leaves from branches.
‘He will grow up to be a fully functioning gorilla thanks to the efforts of his dedicated keepers.’
Visitors can see Hasani with Kera, as well as the youngest gorilla five-month-old Juni, at the zoo every day.
The eight gorillas are part of an international breeding programme to help safeguard the future of western lowland gorillas, which are a critically endangered species.
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