The moment a mother gorilla first kisses her newborn baby was caught on camera.
Shortly after giving birth to her son, Calaya, a western lowland gorilla, was filmed kissing him repeatedly on the lips as she cradles him.
He was given the name Moke, which means “junior” or “little one” in Lingala - a language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the creatures hail from.
The footage was captured at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington DC.
Moke’s arrival marks the first time in nine years the zoo has managed to get the critically endangered species to breed in captivity.
15-year-old Calaya arrived at the zoo three years ago and quickly coupled up with Moke’s 450-pound father, 26-year-old Baraka.
Calaya became pregnant in August, kicking off a gestation period which tends to be seven-and-a-half to eight months long for gorillas.
“The birth of this western lowland gorilla is very special and significant, not only to our Zoo family but also to this critically endangered species as a whole,” said a spokesperson for the zoo.
Scientists estimate that in the past 20 to 25 years, the number of wild western lowland gorillas has decreased by 60 percent.
