The news right now can be difficult to read, but amid all the terrible headlines, there are some truly heartwarming and positive stories.
Cast in point, this critically endangered gorilla who is expecting her first baby.
Thirteen-year-old Tumani is being prepared for motherhood by the keepers at the New Orleans zoo with a training "doll" (that looks nothing like a gorilla!) so that she's well equipped for handling her baby.
Watch the zoo's pregnancy announcement below:
[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/AudubonZoo/videos/559911377979454]]
Announcing the pregnancy on Facebook, Audubon Zoo wrote: "This will be the first gorilla birth at the Zoo in 24 years and the first offspring for 13-year-old Tumani, who came to Audubon from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in 2017."
"This pregnancy is the result of successful breeding between Tumani and Okpara, a 26-year-old silverback gorilla, who came to Audubon from Franklin Park Zoo in 2017.
"The offspring, due in late summer, will be Tumani and Okpara’s first. Audubon Zoo's gorillas are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan."
[[imagecaption|| Credit: PA Images]]
The zoo explained that the survival plan was created to ensure that 354 gorillas in 48 North American zoos have the best possible chance at long term survival with a genetically diverse population.
Tumani and the baby's father Okpara are western lowland gorillas, their species pictured above.
In 2016, their numbers were estimated to be 362,000 in the wild, but they are falling at a rate of 2.7% a year, phys.org revealed.
A worker at the zoo explained that she had not been given a soft toy as her temporary baby because she'd easily destroy it, they wanted her to that her baby has to be held at all times.
"We don't want the baby by itself. We want it with the mother at all times," an employee identified only as McLean explained to phys.org. "If the baby's on the ground, we want to be able to say, 'Hey, pick it up.'"















