Mother Gorilla Kissing And Cradling Her Newborn Baby Is Adorable (Video)

There’s an old saying, “The best medicine in the world is a mother’s kiss.” Moke, a newborn gorilla learned this in his earliest life experience. Moke’s mother, Calaya, in an endangered western lowland gorilla from the Smithsonian National Zoo and despite not being experienced with children, her maternal instinct kicked in, and she handled it like a natural.

Now if for any reason Calaya is unable to care for Moke, the staff at the zoo have already prepared another older, experienced female gorilla to take over as a foster mother. The female, called Mandara, even fostered Baraka (Moke's father) in the past. "This infant's arrival triggers many emotions — joy, excitement, relief — and pride that all of our perseverance in preparing Calaya for motherhood has paid off," said animal keeper Melba Brown in the zoo's statement. "We will provide support to her if need be, but I have every confidence that Calaya will be a great mom to Moke. I am excited to see how he will fit into the group dynamic. There are a lot of different personalities in this family troop, but they all work well together." Just see for yourself in the footage below: