Naming Competition for the First Red Gorilla Baby at Shanghai Wild Animal Park: An An, Yuan Yuan, or Grape?
There is a ‘little star’ in Shanghai Wild Animal Park, which is the first red gorilla baby, and it is already one year old. Besides the lively ‘birthday party’, the keepers are thinking about a major matter: to celebrate this birthday, through everyone’s wisdom, to give the baby a name. Currently, candidate names have been generated: An An, Yuan Yuan, Grape. The collection period is one week.
Three candidate names have different meanings.
Yesterday early in the morning, the animal keepers decorated the venue and organized a ‘birthday party’ for the gorilla baby, and they prepared a special birthday cake. The keeper specially added more grapes, which were the gorilla baby’s favorites. At 11 a.m., the keeper delivered the birthday cake, and the mother ‘Wu Mao’ was even more excited than the baby, quickly picked up the ‘cake’ and stuffed it into her mouth, forgetting that her child was the main character, and finally ‘Wu Mao’ shared the birthday cake with the baby.
At the birthday party scene, the keepers called on tourists to choose a name for the gorilla baby: An An: Different 2020 ushered in the gorilla baby’s first year birthday, hoping that the gorilla baby will be safe and healthy and grow up in the park; Yuan Yuan: The gorilla baby’s mother is called ‘Wu Mao’, hoping that the baby is Wu Mao’s upgraded version, and its life in the park will be doubly happy and doubly happy; Grape: The gorilla baby loves grapes, and ‘Grape’ also has the meaning of ‘fruit clusters’, ‘prosperous descendants’, wishing the gorilla baby to grow up happily in the park, and in the future it will have branches and leaves and full of descendants.
‘Fuzzy baby’ becomes ‘park pet’
Since the birth of the red gorilla baby, it has been loved by tourists. And its ‘fuzzing’ image has deeply rooted in people’s hearts. According to the keepers, this is the first red gorilla baby born in Shanghai Wild Animal Park, although there are also some animal parks in China that raise red gorillas, but there are few that can breed small babies, and the birth process is not smooth.
Wu Mao is the mother, 16 years old this year; Shen Gui is the father, 19 years old this year. In 2017, the keepers made a match, and after getting to know each other, communicating and falling in love, they entered a ‘romantic period’. In November 25, 2018, Wu Mao’s prenatal examination was successful. The keepers reviewed the successful breeding cases at home and abroad, carried out prenatal physical desensitization training and medical training for Wu Mao, and invited professional personnel for B-scan imaging to check the fetal development near the end of pregnancy.
On March 27, 2019, Wu Mao gave birth, but the baby was born with umbilical cord not cut. After observation for several hours, they decided to cut the umbilical cord artificially. As a first-time mother, Wu Mao’s nursing posture was incorrect, and she assisted her to correct Wu Mao’s nursing posture, so that the baby could naturally suckle milk.
The gorilla baby spent its first three months with its mother in the nursery. At 3 months old, the gorilla baby and its mother officially met the public. After 8 months and more, when the keeper fed the mother grapes, the gorilla baby showed interest in grapes and started to lick and bite, and most loved grapes.
At the same time, the gorilla baby’s activity ability has increased significantly, from climbing on its mother’s body to pulling its mother’s arm to crawl or walk on the ground, to now it can climb climbing shelves independently, but as soon as it hears someone’s footsteps approaching, it will call for its mother to hold it in its arms.
