From 10 to 14 June 2013 my boyfriend had a few days off. We were just going to take it easy; to Efteling on Tuesday and Burgers' Zoo on Friday. I hadn't been there for quite some time; 6 October 2012 for the last time, so it was time to again. I also thought Wilfred should see this lovely zoo.
We went by train. Like I do a lot (it's a kind of an 'addiction') I checked various news sites on my mobile and then I read on telegraaf.nl: 'Rare gorilla twins born'. My heart immediately started to beat faster and I quickly read on and immediately saw 'In Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem, gorilla N'Gayla gave birth to twins. A unique moment that only happens very rarely.'
I just confess that I immediately got a lump in my throat. Wilfred sensed my emotion and looked at me and (of course) asked "What's wrong????". To which I replied "A ... set of twins ... have been born!". His (logical) response "Yes, and? That happens more often" to which I replied "Yes, but not with gorillas". So he also thought it was special news and then asked "Where were they born?" I just looked at him with a very very big smile and he knew enough "Oh no, Burgers' Zoo so ... well, that's great". And that was great! A little less for him, because I wanted to be with the gorillas (a lot) of course. I eventually adjusted to Wilfred quite a bit, by the way.
But we did go straight to the gorillas. That was not the intention, but come on ... twins!!! We were there (with a lot of pain in my heart) for only fifteen minutes and then we started to see the rest of the park. Of course I had planned the route in such a way that we got to see the gorillas in between. And a bit later we were back with the gorillas. Wilfred left me there and went to the ocean alone.
Well, those twins... what a joy it was to see two of those little babies in mother's arms. What a good mother N'Gayla was (and is!!). She handled them perfectly, like it was a normal thing. I enjoyed (not as long as I wanted) that first day so much. Here 1 of the many photos I took on June 14, 2013.
Before we went home, I took a membership card again and I was back 4 days later. And so I visited them almost weekly since they were 1 day old. In spring and summer and part of autumn every week; in the winter every 8 to 12 days in. The regular visits were till the end of 2015; after that the frequency went down. From 2016 to 2018 I visited them basically every 2 weeks. Since 2019 I don't visit them that often anymore. Often once a month, sometimes I skip a month.
As I already said, a unique birth. As you can read under pregnancy/motherhood under gorilla facts: when the twins were born in Burgers' Zoo (13 June 2013) it was said to be the sixth set of twins in European zoos; the first set to be raised entirely by mother. Six twins were also born in zoos outside Europe (until 2014). There, too only 1 set of twins was fully raised by their mother. For the other gorilla twins, either they didn't make it, or only 1 of them. Or they were bottle-fed (both or only 1).
An example of where things went wrong with twins is with the half-sister of N'Gayla (mother of the twins in Burgers' Zoo). Dian, living in Frankfurt, gave birth to twins on 15 September 2015. One of the twins sadly died after 2 days; the other after 4 months (19 January 2016). On 2 March 2017 Dian gave birth to twins again (to everyone's surprise, I think). Unfortunately, the boy died after only 2 days. The other, a girl named Xetsa, is still alive to this day. The first few (about 6) months of a gorilla baby are always very 'tricky'. Then a baby is very vulnerable. After that, the chances of survival are much higher.
Also, on 2 March 2013 twins were stillborn in Duisburg. It was Siamese twins (also called conjoined twins). That was actually twins 6 in Europe, but it was kept quiet. That is why the twins in Burgers' Zoo are referred to as 'the sixth gorilla twin in Europe ever'.
Here a few more recent photos from them. To start with one of 2016.
For a few yeras, they're hardly close to each other, so it's a matter of luck when it does happen. In 2019 I was able to take this photo from them together.
On 30 October 2022 I took this photo; unfortunately not from the front, but that will happen again another time I hope.
They boy is much smaller than his sister is for quite some years. That's because his sister was more independ much earlier and she collected her own food and ate it. He kept drinking milk for a much longer time. You grow better from vegetables than from milk.
