Hand reared Bristol gorilla celebrates first birthday
Keepers had to look after Hasani 24 hours a day, which even involved sharing a bed
Last updated 19th Aug 2021
It's a big day at Bristol Zoo as a baby gorilla celebrates its first birthday.
Hasani had to be hand reared by keepers for six months after its mother struggled to care for him. If they hadn't done so, they say he would have died.
He was born to mum Kala and father Jock -- the zoo's silverback.
During his first five months of life, keepers ensured he had sight of the six other gorillas at Bristol Zoo Gardens for the majority of every day so he could both smell and communicate with them whilst he was with his human carers.
It became clear that one of the Zoo’s other female gorillas -- 18-year-old Kera -- was showing positive signs of wanting to care for Hasani and at eight months old, and after many successful meetings between the pair, Hasani was handed over to his now surrogate mum.
“We couldn't have wished for a better result,” said Sarah Gedman, Team Leader of Mammals at Bristol Zoo Gardens.
“We had attempted on multiple occasions to give birth-mum Kala another chance to look after him but despite her seeming very keen to begin with, we started noticing the worrying signs of her not being able to cope.
“After several weeks, we just had to accept that it wasn’t working but fortunately we had another female showing very positive signs that she wanted to do the job.
“Kera and Hasani are wonderful to watch. He will giggle with delight when she plays rough and tumble with him.
"He is very relaxed amongst the troop and is finding his place in the hierarchy.”
Despite being a little shy of the adults in the troop, keepers say Hasani enjoys instigating play with smaller members, youngsters Ayana and Juni.
He’s very respectful of silverback Jock -- a natural and reassuring behaviour to see from a younger male.
Zoo keeper Alan Toyne was among those who hand reared Hasani before he was given to Kera.
He told us what it was like having to watch the gorilla through the night, which even involved them sharing the same bed.
"If he would sit up in the middle of the night and he wasn't due a feed, I would try and just no 'no way' and you'd try and make him go back to sleep," he said.
"Then he would lie on his back and kick the duvet kind of up and down, there was a couple of times he'd fall out of bed and then you'd just hear this wail and you'd pick him up and put him back in the bed again."
He added that there were some pretty grim nights.
"One horrible night he did manage to, you know, poo in the bed which was an unpleasant way to wake up.
"He did once vomit milk into my mouth which again was an unpleasant experience, but generally it is a lot of fun.
"Seeing him back in with the gorilla group on his first birthday is a big achievement and we're all delighted.
Western lowland gorillas like Hasani are critically endangered with around 360,000 estimated to be left in the wild.
Many gorillas are killed for the 'bushmeat' trade where animals are shot by hunters and the meat sold to traders in towns and cities.
Because there are so few in the wild, Bristol Zoo Gardens, among other worldwide zoos, are actively involved in ensuring there is a strong population in human care through captive breeding programmes, which form the EAZA Ex situ Programme (EEP).
As well as this, around 4,800 miles away, conservationists from Bristol Zoological Society and universities in the UK are currently working to protect declining numbers of the species in the wild at Parque Nacional de Monte Alé, in Equatorial Guinea.