Two adorable western lowland baby gorillas arrived at the Bronx Zoo in New York this spring, becoming the first gorillas to be born in the metropolitan zoo in the last eight years.
The first baby was delivered on March 10 by 33-year-old gorilla named Julia and was followed by the birth of 19-year-old Tuti's offspring on April 17. Both gorilla mothers have delivered babies before -- Julia with two and Tuti with one -- but it was first time for Ernie, 31-years-old, to become a father of two gorilla infants.
Western lowland gorillas are originally native to Congo, a country in Central sub-Saharan Africa, and they are known for their vegetarian lifestyle and excellent climbing skills. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), however, considered them as already "Critically Endangered," reported Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in a press release.
The two babies are the newest additions to the largest band of gorillas in the North America, a group reared by the WCS in its effort to enhance "the genetic viability of animal populations in zoos" through its Species Survival Plan.
Currently, the two babies and their parents are residing in the Congo Gorilla Forest, an immersive walkthrough exhibit located in the southwest corner of the Bronx Zoo that allows visitors to have a taste of African forest, together with their fellow western lowlands.
Should the weather, temperature, and other conditions permit it, zoo-goers may get the chance to see these newborns, the 14th and 15th western lowlands born in the exhibit. Their genders are yet to be known as the infants are usually held close by their mothers during the first four months of their lives and are expected to begin eating solid foods after six months but they would have to continue nursing until they reach three or four years of age.
Baby gorillas are born small, around 4.5 pounds, but they grow quickly to become the world's largest primates. The adult ones weigh as much as 350-450 pounds for the males and 150-250 pounds for females and could grow as high as four to six feet tall.
The Bronx Zoo is owned by the WCS, a US-based organization working to protect gorillas from illegal hunting and habitat loss throughout Central Africa through national and international conservation projects, research and education programs. The zoo, particularly the Congo Gorilla Forest, serves as a sanctuary for these western lowland gorillas in the heart of the New York.
