It's not easy becoming a parent, as Nona has recently discovered! On 18th March 2014, our gorilla caregivers arrived at work to find that Nona had given birth overnight to a tiny baby girl. Nona arrived at Mefou Primate Sanctuary almost 10 years ago as a tiny baby, confiscated from an illegal forest hunting camp. Rachel hand-reared her and has watched her grow up into a lovely adult so it was a proud moment to discover Nona had become a mother.

It is not our policy to breed because we need to use our limited resources for new orphans, so Nona's baby was a happy accident. Happiness quickly turned to concern though when we realised that Nona was showing signs of stress. Mvie, another female in the group, was trying to take the baby from her and Nona ran to the entrance of her night cage and asked to be let inside. Normally we don't intervene with new births and allow group members to adjust at their own pace, but this time things were different. The group were young, had never experienced a birth before and had lost Pikin just days earlier, making them unsettled and unpredictable.


We filled Nona's night cage with comfortable leaves and observed her quietly from a distance. Having never had the chance to learn from other gorilla mums, Nona was wasn't allowing the baby to feed and whenever she tried, Nona pushed her away or offered her finger instead. Soon the baby became weak, no longer crying or holding her head up. When Nona began putting her baby down and moving away, we knew she would not survive without intervention.

Removing a baby from its mother is always our last resort so whilst Nona was anaesthetised, Rachel placed the baby on her mum's chest, stimulating her to suckle. There was a risk that Nona would still reject the baby, but when she came around the first thing she did was reach down to find her baby, now well fed and asleep on her tummy. Rachel and Appolinaire - Nona's long-time carer - stayed in the cage with her whilst she recovered. It is testament to the deep trust they share that Nona not only allowed them so close, but also to gently massage her feet and hold her hand, keeping her calm as she woke.

When the baby tried to feed again, Nona bought her over to Rachel and allowed her to move the baby's head into the right position for her to suckle. After watching Rachel do this twice, Nona began feeding the baby herself and has never looked back. Baby Sandra (named after the vet who operated on Shufai) is doing really well and Nona has settled comfortably into motherhood. She has been spending time with her friends Shufai and Djanga but still prefers to stay away from the rest of the group for now. We cannot be certain who the father is, but silverback Nkan Daniel keeps a close eye on mother and baby, very much like a proud dad!