The Aspinall Foundation are celebrating the birth of two baby western lowland gorillas at the Howletts Wild Animal Park. Mother to both the new born gorillas, who were born on 8th April 2009 is Boma, a 13 year old female who arrived from St Martin La Plaine Zoo in France.

Head of the Gorilla section at Howletts, Lorna Wanless, said –

We are delighted to welcome another Western Lowland Gorilla to Howletts. We are fortunate to be able to care for and work with so many of this endangered species and pleased to see that mum and baby are showing real signs of bonding.

At sister park Port Lympne, near Hythe, there was also the arrival of another baby gorilla, born to 22 year old Mumba who already has two male offspring. Father of all three is 27 year old Djala, who was rescued from the Congo and has sired 26 babies to date.

Commented Head of Gorilla Section at Port Lympne, Phil Ridges –

We knew that Mumba was pregnant but the gestation period did seem to go on a little longer than anticipated.  Everyone was pleased to see that Mumba had a successful labour and both mother and baby are doing very well.

With only 100,000 Western lowland gorillas left in the world, these gracious creatures could well be extinct by 2020 if their numbers continue to decline through deforestation and the widespread Ebola virus in Central Africa.  The Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks play an important role in the breeding of gorillas, with the two parks now housing the largest collection in human care on the planet with 77 Western lowland gorillas between them. The Aspinall Foundation continues to expand its colony at the Kent parks as well as returning captive bred gorillas to Africa via its rescue and rehabilitation programme in the Congo and Gabon.