Prague gorilla Kamba survives difficult delivery, offspring dies

Kamba, the oldest of the Prague gorillas, experienced another difficult delivery in which the offspring also died in 2007.

More than 20 breeders, veterinaries and physicians assisted in the delivery that started in the morning on Sunday

Kamba´s labour started on Sunday morning. The first big complication appeared after a few hours when a part of the umbilical cord appeared. She cut it, which was fatal for her unborn young.

In addition, Kamba did not have contractions and she seemed unable to deliver the young by herself. That is why she was tranquillised and operated on, though the step was risky in view of her heart troubles.

Kamba was born in the Cameroon rain forests in the early 1970s. At the age of two, her family was killed out by poachers and Kamba ended up in the zoo in Leipzig, Germany. Later she moved to other zoos before definitively settling down in Prague in 2005.

The breeders describe her as an element cementing the gorilla group and an "aunt" tenderly taking caring of all other offspring.

After Kamba gave birth to a stillborn young in 2007, the zoo said she will never have her own offspring in view of her high age. Last year, it surprisingly turned out that she was pregnant again.

Author: ČTK
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