Mobi observes the world from the back of his mother Duni. She manifests herself as a very playful parent, but at the same time very cautious. Although she shows her Mobi to visitors every day, she has not loaned any other gorillas to her daughter yet. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo
The two-month-old female lowland gorilla Mobi at the Prague Zoo is keenly interested in her surroundings. In recent days, better fixation of the head has contributed to this, so the baby gorilla is already responding to all kinds of stimuli in a targeted manner. She looks around more and more while Mother Duni carries her on her back or lifts her up, stretching the little gorilla’s stomach and limbs.
“With a bit of exaggeration, it can be said that Mobi has already started looking for her sister or brother, whose birth we expect next month,” says head primate breeder Martin Vojáček. The second cub this year in the Dja Reserve will be born to an experienced Kijivu female. However, what makes the breeders happy now is the continued perfect care of first-time mother Duni for little Mobi. “In short, Duni can be seen that her mother Moja prepared her flawlessly for her own motherhood. For example, when Duni lifts little Mobi up and down with her legs, we can’t tell which one enjoys it more.”
The grip reflex of the little Mobi is very good. Visitors to the Dja Reserve pavilion have the best chance to see her “on a ride” around 10 am or 3 pm during feeding. Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo
In addition, for ten-year-old Duni, the first cub is a ticket to the higher rungs of the pack’s hierarchical ladder. Although Duni still plays with the almost eight-year-old male, Ajabu, who shows the most interest in little Mobi out of the group, at the same time, he defines himself more dominantly towards the other females, especially Shinda.
“Shinda is the most dominant female and is thus right below the leader male Kisum in the group hierarchy. But Duni suddenly stops dodging her and, for example, in a recent dispute over a sleeping nest, she even stood up to her. Duni is very smart and knows that as Kisumu’s current favorite, she can afford such daring experiments,” Vojáček explains, adding that Kisumu’s natural role is to resolve such situations calmly.
Duni shows great interest in his daughter Mobi and exercises with her very often. Stretching the baby like this has a similar effect to massaging a human baby’s tummy.
Little Mobi, which in translation from the Cameroonian dialect badjoué means “heiress” or “continuator”, was born on January 2nd and today she is exactly ten weeks old. He starts toddling around his mother at the age of about four months, and he starts tasting his first solid food, most likely vegetables, at the age of about nine months, i.e. in autumn. By that time, if all goes well, the aforementioned baby Kijivu will also be born, and visitors to the Prague Zoo will be able to observe two small gorilla cubs at the same time for the first time in history.
Photo by Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo