Baby Gorilla Gets Lessons From His Dad | Natures Newborns | Real Wild

[Music] [Music] all over the country animals are raising their brand new families we'll share with you some amazing births and the first few weeks of animal babies new lives from cute little kittens to ferocious tigers we'll be there in the kennels stables barns and even zoos like this one to witness these new arrivals and meet the people whose job it is to make sure that they arrive safe and sound and hopefully on time from cats to orangutans from dogs to zebras we'll be there to witness those magic moments as we travel across the uk bringing you brand new babies of every shape and size [Music] coming up we're at exmoor zoo to meet three puma cubs and i travel to chester where a newborn baby ocapi is on show but first we're meeting a troupe of gorillas including a baby that arrived just a few weeks ago they look so human don't they well gorillas are very closely related to humans and that's why we really struggle to not think of them in the same way as we do our own families we've been following a particular family here in chessington like any troupe of gorillas in the wild this one is made up of a big breeding dominating male silverback and its many wives the silverback in this group is demessi demesi had three babies by three different females a three-year-old an 11 month old and this one who's only a few weeks no one knows these gorillas better than their keeper james this is demacy he won't be fully grown until he's late teens early 20s but he's most of the way there he was born in frankfurt and then went to painting six years in the bachelor group doing what teenage boys do roughing and tumbling being idiots but that's how you learn social skills and nine and a half months after he got here little ambula popped out the mesi's an excellent silverback shows his tough side to prove to the girls that he's capable enough to look after him that demonstration demonstration's pretty impressive now watch his three-year-old son copy his dad and i'm here today to meet with their keeper james to see how they're getting on how's everybody doing yeah we're doing good doing good uh gorillas just had their breakfast so all the youngsters are are still doing very well yeah they're all breastfeeding three and a half yards getting weaned off now they tend to breastfeed up to four years ish oh okay that's a long time night it's a long time and then but they don't like being weaned off no so they really do stay babies for a long time now yeah they do yeah growing up it's it's a long period i mean they um with the males they want to be keep them in the group up to 10 years as much as possible because you're learning you're learning your social skills so he needs to watch and see what dad does the mesa's got a very important role in teaching his now two young boys what to do so who we got in the background here that's a very small baby that's little kwanzaa she was born the 16th of uh july this year and shenger she's a first-time mother 11 year old female and baby kawansa doesn't just have mom to look after her because grandmother is also on hand and like many grands she wants to be involved in bringing up her granddaughter as well she's sort of mentoring her second born shanga who's had the new baby little kwanzaa generally she's really good really good at helping out showing her the skills one of the many similarities between humans and gorillas is that sometimes you get over interfering grandmothers and johnny's been doing that a bit every now and again shiny will take the baby show you how to groom such things as nibbling the toenails and the fingernails because they do grow so she really will sort of babysit almost and and sort of take over and is it sort of demonstrating sort of behaviors and that sort of yeah demonstrating that it's watch and learn that's where you see what happens so grandma has been getting in there and sort of doing her sort of uh babysitting duty so just making sure she's looking after the baby the only thing she can't do is feed it so when it starts shouting as if it wants to be fed she gives it back they stay together as a family group and that's how you learn as a family group with the juveniles they're there to be protected by the whole group you can see here granny babysitting the little one warning the young three-year-old from coming too close while she's holding the baby and just like an overprotective human mum the mother of the 11 month old won't let it out of her sight so is this the same as you would see in the wild with this sort of generational involvement in the in the family yeah they do they're called a troop but they're all linked together it's important for them to learn and stay in their family groups for as long as possible in order to keep the gene pool as wide as possible contraception is used with the gorillas in captivity to prevent one bloodline from becoming over represented we've actually got a shiny in the pill at the moment which is a human contraceptive pill they're pretty much identical to humans under the furry exterior how do you actually give them the contraception we'll stick it in a grape and just stick it straight in their mouth like that sometimes shiny she'll take the pill out and then eat the grape and you think she's going to chuck it and she eats it separately she might just give it on her own yeah a big part of the gorilla's day centers around feeding time the diet varies every day on the menu you can see we've got some leek cucumber whole nuts and also some cos lettuce in there we chop it really nice and small for them spread it all around the enclosure they can then forage they spend around 60 70 of the day naturally do foraging for food takes up much of their time in the wild so this is replicated in captivity and the youngsters learn these skills by watching the adults we give them drinks morning and evening we give them fruit and veg smoothies um it's for several reasons yeah a little bit for the liquid but they don't drink a huge amount but also we can check them over every morning so you put the bottle up they'll come up and drink it they'll put their hands and generally one foot on the on the bars and you can look at their hands and their feet see if they've got any bites or cuts you just pick up on the little signs like that watching these gorillas you can really see parallel behavior with humans the mums don't let their little babies out of reach and this three-year-old throws a bit of a strop when he's not allowed to play with the baby as our closest living relatives it's no surprise that these animals have such an amazing complex family structure and it's lovely to see that each one of the adults has a really important role in the baby's lives it's really lovely to see [Music] this beautiful cat is a cougar otherwise known as a puma or mountain lion they're found in south and north america and there's recently been a litter born at exmoor zoo which is a bit of a coincidence because exmoor is one of the places in the uk where stories of big cats out and about are rife exmoor on the north devon coast is a bleak windswept mysterious part of the country [Music] danny reynolds of exmoor zoo had a strange encounter there one night myself and another keeper virtually ran a puma over outside the front gates back in 1994. it was a case of did you just see what i saw we then took on our head keeper and our head keeper bumped into a black leopard outside exeter in 96. it was midday it would take and i saw without shadow of a doubt a black leopard it was probably 100 meters away from me and it just disappeared into the hedgerow and just vanished because of these mysterious sightings danny decided to get some black leopards and pumas for his zoo so he could study the animals up close but he got more than he bargained for when the female nico became pregnant and gave birth to triplets these are the first puma cubs born in the uk for 10 years we knew mum was pregnant we could see the body change and a little bit of increase in food she gave birth and we were able to on a daily basis just very gently looking and she was an excellent mother soon the cubs were venturing out and exploring their enclosure [Music] they looked nothing like their parents at the moment as they're covered in camouflaging spots they are to hide the babies from predators the spots begin to disappear when the cubs are two months old they're wonderful the pools are too big they just want to play you can just imagine being at home with your own family of domestic cats and um watching them grow and it's exactly the same thing here the only trouble is we can't go in and play with them like you could at home [Music] but back out on the moor the hunt is still on for evidence of leopards and pumas loose in the wild dany's cubs have been born in captivity but some people believe that big cats are also breeding in britain's countryside rick minter is an expert on the phenomena and has written about big cats at large in the uk well this laptop shows some footage where a bird watcher coincidentally was watching birds had a video camera in his hand and an interesting animal came in the background he wasn't aware that it was a potentially sort of black leopard-sized cat when he was initially filming it just filmed it for curiosity took it home got talking with people who saw it enough other people said that's interesting that's possibly a big cat he took it to west midlands safari park and the head of carnivores there instantly said yep i think that's a big black leopard type cat it's that sort of scale here's a bit of footage that makes you look twice and think that's good that's very interesting looks like a cat it's behaving like a cat's got the fluidity the movement of a cat it really needs scaling but often also i would be looking for the emotion and the conviction from the witness i mean that that certainly gives you some some boxes to tick sightings of those kinds of animals panthers black leopards and pumas are happening weekly across the country and of course not all of those sightings and reports will be plausible but given that people aren't reporting flamingos or raccoons or wallabies every week then maybe there's something in it coming up the pumas at exmoor zoo are growing up fast but it's time for one of them to leave home we've been on the trail of mysterious big cats on exmoor but back at the zoo they've got three young pumas who are growing day by day [Music] three months on and the little cubs are really beginning to look like pumas now they've taken on the mannerisms of mom and dad before they were just little kittens but now they're starting to look like humors and yeah they're absolutely fantastic now they climb they play they you know try and find their um test of strength with their brothers and things yeah and it's great and they push their mum obviously too far as they always do [Music] those three little cubs have not been named yet because they're going to move on to different zoos because exmoor don't have the space to keep such a large family together and as the first pumas born in 10 years in the uk they're in big demand as a new genetic bloodline the first cub is off to his new home so he's been separated inside with the puma kit is derek he's got a decent relationship with the kittens derek is in with the cub to reassure it and then help coax it out into the crate one with the cat at the moment and the plan is the curator has just put a slide up and hopefully our little kitten just walk straight into the box i'll just show you the kitten just to prove i'm in with it so in a minute we're going to uh set up the crate and try and get the animal to move naturally from the enclosure it's in with derrick in there and i went straight into the crate without any hassle how's the cat doing derek you and him he's fine yeah he's fine he's starting to get a little bit anxious about it all so it's a little [Music] the traveling crate is lifted in and the door slid open now the keepers will try and coax the young puma in with as little stress as possible [Music] success the puma's in the box perfect the one that's gone today that one's going to the cat survival trust in hertfordshire so from our point of view it's gone into a very good arc where it should be well cared for looked after our experienced people and it's been operational for well over 30 years as they will grow up to eight feet long space is tight for the two of the cubs and they too will be moving on one to a big cat sanctuary in kent and the other to cornwall as for big cats in the wild we still don't know for sure i must say i've never been totally convinced about big cat sightings in the uk but those videos were pretty intriguing however i'm off to chester zoo now to see how science is playing a critical role in helping some of the rarest animals in the world breed in captivity [Music] the okapi was one of the last large land-based animals to be discovered in 1901 because of its striped markings it was thought to be a relative of the zebra [Music] but the okapi is actually a relative of the giraffe feeding on leaves it has an incredibly long tongue [Music] chester's current pair are dicky and the female stuma and after six years of trying she's finally pregnant for the first time [Music] not all animals breed well in captivity this is dicky now they're very shy and solitary animals in the wild so knowing whether they're in season or whether they're actually pregnant can be very difficult and this is where the zoo here at chester will use the science of endocrinology it's all about studying hormones and measuring them and it gives you loads of information so we know dickie's going to be a dad endocrinology is the study of the level of hormones in the bloodstream as a vet i use it all the time when you collect this information daily it allows you to plot a chart showing when an animal is in season here in chester the keepers supply daily samples for the lab so just taking urine and taking effectively poo you can you can get the answers you need yeah so if you just keep taking samples repeatedly over time you can start to build up these pictures of what's going on in the animals and that will give you a value that you can then go back to the keepers and say today's the day yeah pretty much when you start plotting those values over time you'll start to get a picture of what's going on with the animals and you'll start to see these patterns develop and we know when a particular hormone in progesterone drops we know that's when they're going to come into season and when they'll be receptive for the male for example we've been looking at our cappy and she didn't cycle for a very long time and we would change the mate who she was with and we think that might have had an impact because after she was introduced to a particular male she started cycling so that particular male was going in that must have been dicky then because he was the obvious father of uh of of the your new academy yeah that's correct yep dickie has done his bit and now it's down to mom stumor with a cctv camera in her pen we soon heard from the zoo that she'd given birth [Music] i'm traveling back to chester to watch a recording of the birth and hear more about these lovely creatures and their baby oh so she's already on the way yeah this is great oh yeah you can see feet already out heads there so she came normal presentation then yeah luckily for us yes yeah how long has she lay before she's in labor for about an hour but it's still not dropped at this point oh there it goes yeah so she's just dropped there all in a rush actually it's just dropped really nice and gently there and for first time mum as well really quick it's really well marked you can see the feet the white socks and everything so the markings are are similar to moms straight from both there's no sort of camouflage sort of coat change or anything nope they're just mini adults right down to the markings that's beautiful so in the wild would would she leave them or stay with them permanently for the first week or so do you know they should leave them so once she's given birth once she's cleaned up and probably given its first feed then she'll bed it down and and leave it and then she'll come back and feed which is why you won't see these guys feeding regularly but when they do feed they'll feed for long periods of time right before i see the new baby tim wants to introduce me to a less cautious male to find out more about these secretive but beautiful animals what an unusual looking creature absolutely spectacular tim you've obviously been here at the zoo your working life how long have you had a carpet here i've had these guys now for about six years not these actual individuals but uh we've been working with the species for about that long now we found these guys that we're learning every day and although we've had these for this length of time we also spent a lot of time going to other collections and trying to find out how other collections had looked after them but even now we're still learning every day and the birth obviously having a birth on site that must be a real sort of uh bonus for you guys to get the okapi birth this year has has really been the pinnacle of my career here these and the giraffes have always been my love how how is mum doing what how is she responding to people being around her mum's doing very well she's doing everything that i would expect a first-time mum to do so she's protective and she's now just at that point where she will leave her for a few hours and she'll go off and she'll feed herself [Music] what an incredible animal these carpes are unlike anything else and it's such a rare treat to get so close but the one i really want to see is the baby hopefully it's out and about now with mum we shall be able to get a look inside [Music] oh here it is here it is [Music] it is really a miniature version of mum oh look at you those unique colors it's been a tense wait for all of us but most of all for chester zoo this is a massive thing they've been waiting such a long time to be able to breed this incredibly shy creature [Music] it's been an amazing privilege to see so many different species give birth and have their first few faltering steps from domestic pets to exotic animals it's wonderful it's been such a great experience to watch them grow and i've met creatures i never get to meet at my vet practice look at those ears it's been a brilliant journey and look our babies come right up as well i hope you've enjoyed it as much as i have good girl [Music] you

Channel: Real Wild

Views: 154,788

Keywords: Real Wild, animal bonding, animal curiosity, animal enthusiasts, animal families, animal instincts, animal love, animal parenting, gorilla care, gorilla fatherhood, gorilla playground, okapi calf, okapi habitat, precious wildlife, primate parenting, rare species, wildlife education, wildlife enthusiasts, wildlife interactions, wildlife protection, wildlife wonders

Id: i2T9ctD9pfw

Length: 22min 5sec (1325 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 17 2021