A gorilla born at an animal park in Kent has become the first in the world to breed with others in the wild. Silverback Ima was welcomed at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Canterbury in 2002. After being rejected by his parents, he was hand-reared at the site and rewilded in Gabon, Africa, in 2003 as part of the Aspinall Foundation’s Gabon gorilla protection and reintroduction project. After a year of acclimatisation and habituation, which involved adapting to different food and weather, he was fully released into the wild. He became solitary in October 2019, which is usual for male gorillas. Aft…
