After 5 days of carrying her dead infant, the mountain gorilla Bonane finally came to terms with the loss of her firstborn. MGVP field veterinarian Dr Jacques Inyanya was with the tracking team following the Humba Family and found the group early in the morning still at their overnight nest site in heavy rain.
Dr Jacques found Bonane but could not see the body of the infant. He waited and when Bonane moved on he found that she had left it behind in the nest. Dr Jacques quietly recovered the body and left without the gorillas noticing.
Dr Jacques conducted a thorough external examination of the infant- a full autopsy would not have been useful since so much time had passed since the time of death.
The only obvious injury was a deep wound on the left side of the gorilla’s chest. Dr Jacques says that it was mostly likely the cause of death- the heart and/or lungs were probably damaged and he would have died quickly.
We took the body back to Rumangabo, where Ranger Diddy oversaw the burial at the gorilla cemetery.
The infant gorilla was buried next Neza, who died in July 2007 in the attack on the Rugendo Group
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6 Responses to “Bonane Gives Up Her Baby”
So sad. Your passing is a great loss…
Thanks Dr Jacques for your continued passion and to all those who gave the little one a respectful send-off.
Brings a lump to my throat. Bless him and mum Bonane - RIP little one.
Thank you for giving him such a caring, respectful burial. RIP little one. Please keep us posted on Bonane. I’m sure she will be grieving for a while yet.
Thank you for your caring respect. You are a light to the rest of the world.
Debbie
But, the baby die of what???
Poor little thing. This is so sad.