World News for Students of English

27-09-2023 15:00

A baby gorilla girl became the first gorilla to successfully be born by emergency caesarean in the UK after her mother Ciara was diagnosed with life-threatening pre-eclampsia.

The as-yet-unnamed baby weighed in at just over a kilo at birth, and although she needed help from vets so she could breathe independently, now she is doing well and is even showing signs of personality.

A zookeeper in the zoo said that she was quite a strong, bold and gregarious character. She was very forthright like her mother, and let keepers know when she was awake or when she was ready for a feed.

People believe that this birth was the second or third time that a baby gorilla has been born by caesarean section in the UK, but the first time that the infant actually survived. A human gynaecologist carried out the caesarean and said that there is not as much difference between a human and gorilla caesarean as people might think.

You can watch the video news lower on this page.

Difficult words: caesarean (section) (opening the mother’s abdomen and taking out the baby), pre-eclampsia (a condition in pregnancy characterised by high blood pressure), bold (not afraid of taking risk), gregarious (sociable), forthright (direct and outspoken), gynaecologist (a doctor who specialises in helping women).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.