Human And Gorilla Moms Bond In Boston, Lift Veil Between Species

BOSTON — Two mothers — one gorilla, the other human — recently shared an extraordinary moment cradling their babies at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo.

The thin veil separating the two species — a mere 2 percent of DNA that gorillas and humans don’t share — blurred as Kiki the gorilla stroked Emmalina Austin’s newborn son, Canyon, as if a thick pane of glass did not separate them.

Austin, who lives in Maine, had taken her 5-month-old son to see the zoo animals, unaware they were about to be globally celebrated for a tender moment in interspecies communication.

Kiki locked eyes with Canyon almost as soon as they appeared on the other side of the glass at the zoo’s gorilla cave, Austin told news station WCHS.

“I was holding him up to the glass, and was like, ‘Yeah, look, it’s my baby.’ And was like, ‘How cool would it be if she came to see him?’ I had said that several times,” Austin said, “but I wasn’t really expecting it.”

Kiki more than obliged. Though separated by the glass, the gorilla stroked the sleeping baby. She held him with her eyes. The air was thick with emotion, Austin told NBC’s “Today” show.

Eventually, Kiki brought her own son, Pablo — her fifth child and only son, born in October — to the glass to meet Austin and Canyon.

“Her face was just so in love,” Austin told WCHS. “She was showing her baby my baby.

“I was just in awe,” she said. “Trying to pet his face through the glass, and trying to hold his hand ... just the most beautiful thing. You could see the emotion in her eyes.”

This moment of mutual adoration went on for about five minutes.

Austin told WCHS that when she walked through the zoo entrance that day, she “never could’ve imagined” the once-in-a-lifetime experience that awaited her.

“It was so beautiful, and we walked out over the moon,” she said. “And we had so many people stop us and tell us that was the most beautiful thing we've ever watched. And it was so touching, it really was. You could feel the emotions were just in the air.”

Kiki, 39, has shown keen interest in human babies before.

“We always joke that if a baby fell into our exhibit, Kiki wouldn’t give it back,” said John Linehan, CEO of Zoo New England (which runs the Franklin Park Zoo), on the “Today” show. “She’s so maternal.”

Like other great apes and primates, gorillas are super moms who form strong bonds with their infants and provide complete care for them in their first few years of life, according to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

The babies cling to their mothers and nurse for several years, receiving sustenance, but as important, warmth, comfort and protection.

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Kiki is all gorilla in that respect.

“You’d think,” Linehan told “Today,” that the percentage of DNA shared by gorillas and humans “was even closer after watching Kiki with her babies.”

After Pablo was born, “she literally held him 24/7,” Linehan said. “She’s just starting to allow her daughters to take him every once in a while for short periods of time.”

Because Pablo was born by cesarean section, he and Kiki were separated for a couple of days while she recovered.

Taking a baby from its mother is “always a bit nerve-wracking,” Linehan said. “But Kiki took up right where she left off and immediately began nursing again.

“It was pretty incredible,” Linehan said.

» Watch the video on News Center Maine

5 Things To Know About Gorillas

Below are five things you may not have known about Kiki and gorillas in general.

1. Kiki is a western lowland gorilla, the most widespread of the four gorilla subspecies, though it’s difficult to accurately count their population because they live in the remote rainforests of central Africa. However, the total population is believed to be around 100,000 individuals.

2. Gorillas are the largest of the four types of great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans are the others), but western lowland gorillas are the smallest subspecies. The silverbacks weigh between 300-500 pounds at maturity and stand about 6 feet tall, while adult females weigh between 150 and 200 pounds and stand about 4½ feet tall, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo.

3. Gorillas and humans are pregnant for almost the same amount of time — the gorilla gestation period is 8½ months, compared to nine months for humans. Gorilla babies are much smaller, though, averaging about 4 pounds, compared with full-term human babies of averaging 7.6 pounds (males) and 7.2 pounds (females), according to the World Health Organization. Once born, gorilla babies mature much more quickly, reaching adulthood by 12. In the wild, female gorillas give birth about every four years. The newborn mortality rate is 40 percent in the wild, so most gorillas only have surviving infants every six or eight years.

4. Silverbacks are pretty great dads and babysitters. Silverbacks are the guardians of the gorilla troop and, therefore, can be the most aggressive. But they’re also patient and gentle with young gorillas, and enjoy cuddling playing with them, according to Stacy Rosenbaum, an anthropologist at Northwestern University who studied the same gorillas as Dian Fossey at Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. “They’re incredibly tolerant,” she told The Atlantic, noting that despite their size and chest-thumping reputations, “they can be very gentle, or even loving. Even males that aren’t interested will let infants climb on their back, or sit under them while eating. They’ll let the infants do things to them that they wouldn’t let even a subadult get away with. It’s certainly not the stereotypical image you have of male mountain gorillas.”

5. Though they may scream, bark and roar, gorillas are generally quiet individuals. But scientists have recorded up to 22 different vocalizations, each with its own meaning. They also communicate through body language. When they’re submissive, they crouch low and approach another gorilla front the side. When they’re confident, they walk directly toward another gorilla. When they’re aggressive, they slap their chests.