First published October 24, 2021.
The video that melted so many hearts was filmed on 1 May 2021 at Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. A young family from Maine held their one-month-old son, Canyon, up to the glass of the gorilla enclosure. A female western lowland gorilla named Kiki came over, studied the baby closely, then went and picked up her own infant, Pablo, and carried him back to the window so the two babies were face to face.
The clip, posted to YouTube by father Michael Austin, spread worldwide within days. Here is what happened, who the gorillas are, and what we can and cannot read into a moment like this.
What happened at the glass
The Austins were in Boston for a weekend away with family. Michael, then 24, filmed as his wife, whose name appears in reports as Emily, Emmily or Emmelina, lifted Canyon towards the glass. Kiki looked at the baby, put her hand to the window, and then fetched Pablo, holding him on her leg as she brought him over.
The family described Kiki gesturing at them and Pablo pressing his face to the glass. "[Kiki] was talking to us with her hands," Michael told The Dodo. His wife told the Boston Globe, "You could see the mother's love in her."
Both parents said they were in tears. For a new mother who had given birth only weeks earlier, watching another mother show off her baby felt deeply familiar.
Meet Kiki and Pablo
Kiki is no newcomer. According to zoo officials quoted by the Globe, she was born at the Bronx Zoo in August 1981 and has lived at Franklin Park since May 1982, which made her nearly 40 when the video was filmed. Pablo, her son, was born on 14 October 2020, weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces, so he was about six and a half months old at the time of the encounter.
Pablo's birth was itself news: he was delivered by Caesarean section and was reported as the first male gorilla born at the zoo. Zoo-born western lowland gorillas like Kiki and Pablo are part of breeding programmes that maintain a genetically healthy population in human care.
What can we read into the moment?
It is tempting to say Kiki "introduced" her baby to the human baby. We cannot know exactly what she understood or intended. What we can say is that the behaviour fits what is known about gorillas. They are intensely social, mothers keep young infants close for months, and captive gorillas are often curious about visitors, especially quiet ones holding something interesting.
Michael's description of Kiki "talking with her hands" also makes sense: gorillas communicate a great deal through gesture, posture and facial expression.
Watching great apes respectfully
The Austins' encounter worked because it was calm. If you visit gorillas at a zoo, a few habits help the animals as much as the visitors: keep your voice low, never tap or bang on the glass, switch off camera flash, and give the animals space to come over, or not, on their own terms. Gorillas that feel relaxed are far more likely to show the curious, gentle behaviour seen in this video. Keepers also watch for signs of stress such as chest-beating, charging the glass or turning away, and a good visit is one where the animals stay at ease.
The fairest reading is the simplest one. Two mothers, of two closely related species, paid attention to each other's babies, and both seemed to enjoy it.
Gorilla facts, checked
Gorillas are the largest living primates. There are two species: the western gorilla, which includes western lowland gorillas like Kiki and the rare Cross River gorilla, and the eastern gorilla, which includes mountain gorillas and Grauer's gorillas.
- Size: Wild adult male western gorillas weigh roughly 145–191 kg (about 320–420 lb); females weigh around 58–72 kg (128–159 lb). Claims that gorillas routinely weigh over 500 lb are exaggerated, though captive males are often heavier than wild ones.
- Range: Western lowland gorillas live in the forests of Gabon, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Numbers: Estimates for western lowland gorillas have risen as surveys found more animals, from about 100,000 in the 1980s to a commonly cited figure of around 276,000 today. Cross River gorillas number only about 250–300, and the 2019 mountain gorilla census counted about 1,063.
- Status: Both western gorilla subspecies are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Mountain gorillas are Endangered.
Older articles often said there were "about 100,000 gorillas in the wild". That figure is outdated: it reflects 1980s estimates for western lowland gorillas alone.
Why gorillas are still in trouble
A larger population estimate does not mean gorillas are safe. Western gorillas face poaching for bushmeat, commercial logging, mining, farming that cuts into forests, and outbreaks of Ebola, which reduced gorilla numbers in some protected areas by about a third between 1992 and 2007. Because gorillas breed slowly, with a female raising one infant every few years, losses take a long time to recover.
Moments like Kiki's are part of why zoos argue that seeing great apes up close builds public support for protecting them in the wild. If the video moved you, supporting reputable conservation groups working in central Africa, and choosing certified timber and paper, are practical ways to help.
Sources: Boston Globe, 10 May 2021: Gorilla mother, baby boy share touching moment at Franklin Park Zoo; The Dodo: Zoo gorilla brings her baby to meet mom and newborn; Wikipedia: Western gorilla; Wikipedia: Mountain gorilla; Majestic Animals (earlier report).
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