Baby gorilla named at Dublin Zoo

The male baby gorilla that was born two months ago at Dublin Zoo has been named Kituba.

The male baby gorilla that was born two months ago at Dublin Zoo has been named Kituba.

The zoo ran a competition to name the baby based on his West African origin. The winning suggestion came from 11-year-old Caoileann Carton from Knocklyon in Dublin.

Kituba is one of the main languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, where the gorillas are found.

Keepers were initially unable to identify the baby's gender because his mother Lena held him so tightly. After two weeks she relaxed her grip just enough for staff to make a judgment.

Baby Kituba is thriving and getting stronger every day with his family -  Lena, father Harry, brothers Alfie and Evindi and sister Mayani.

"It won't be long now before the young gorilla's feet touch the ground. Soon his mother Lena will let him down to explore a little but won't let him stray too far," said Ciarán McMahon, the team leader responsible for the gorillas.

The birth of Kituba is a significant success for Dublin Zoo, which takes part in the European breeding programme.

Western lowland gorillas are classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The numbers of these primates living in the wild is expected to fall by over 80 per cent between 1980 and 2046 with commercial hunting and a highly contagious Ebola virus being the two main threats facing their survival.