This Is How The Internet Gave Re-Birth To A Gorilla

When touched with a stethoscope, the infant reacted with the cutest face one would normally see on a human baby. Needless to say, the social media went gaga over the cute baby gorilla.

The photo of a newborn baby gorilla reacting to the coldness of the stethoscope went viral after it was posted to Twitter by @christianmunthe. Though the image will certainly stir up warm feelings, the only anomaly of the image is time. The “baby” gorilla is in fact a fully grown 15-year-old adult gorilla by now, reported Neatorama.

The image of the baby gorilla, named Yakini (which means “truth” in Swahili), captured the attention of Twitter users, and the original post was re-tweeted almost 20,000 times. But interestingly, the image is almost 15 years old, taken when Yakini was just an infant and zoo officials had to routinely attend to him.

Yakini is actually 15-years-old and living at Werribee Zoo with his father, Motaba, and younger brother, Ganyeka. Adorable images of Yakini squishing his face up as a vet listened to his heart with a stethoscope were beamed around the world way back in 1999.

Though the image caused quite a furor and many social media users went “Awww,” these users were in fact duped into believing the gorilla had just received a check-up at Melbourne Zoo, reported The Herald Sun. The photos are actually almost 15 years old and were taken by Herald Sun photographer David Caird. Still, this doesn’t alter the fact that the image is super-cute, and that Yakini did start his life as a fragile baby, explained Melbourne Zoo spokesperson Judith Henke.

“He had a very difficult start to life and had to have a lot of intensive care treatment from zoo keepers and specialists that came in. The photographs were taken during a brief media opportunity at the gorilla nursery back in 1999. I remember the photos were very big internationally at the time. Someone sent me a link to the photos doing the rounds today and I was quite confused.”

Yakini, now a healthy gorilla, has grown up a lot since those heart-warming photos wowed the world. Though he is single, he is surrounded by a protective father and playful brother in a well-spaced enclosure at Werribee. Interestingly, Yakini has traditionally been a name reserved for females. The Inquisitr recently reported about zoos being confused about genders. Was it the case with Yakini too?

[Image Credit | David Caird]