Human Fertility Pills Are Effective in Gorillas!

Gorillas are increasingly becoming an endangered species, due to bush meat trade and habitat destruction.

That's why programs destined to breed the species in captivity would be one of the tools for saving one of the closest relatives of the human species.

Gorillas do not breed so easily in captivity, so any method is probed.

Recently, a western lowland gorilla has given birth at a Zoo in southwest England after being given a human fertility drug.

"The baby gorilla was born at Bristol Zoo Gardens on Dec. 15," said the Zoo's deputy director Dr. Bryan Carroll.

"The newborn gorilla started suckling very quickly and is doing well," said the Zoo's senior primate expert Mel Gage. "Its sex has yet to be determined."

Salome, the 30-year-old mother, bore just one other baby almost 20 years ago.

"The new baby is incredibly cute and Salome is being a very attentive mom and her father Jock is being very protective of his family troop - we couldn't have hoped for more," said Gage.

"Veterinarians had diagnosed Salome with a diminished ovarian reserve, meaning she was not producing ova," Carroll said.

"After consulting gynecologist David Hill, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol, zoo veterinarians gave Salome a fertility drug called clomifene to stimulate ovulation," Carroll said.

"Salome became pregnant three months after first receiving the treatments," he said.

"Female gorillas, like their human counterparts, find conceiving more difficult as they get older, so zoos may now be able to give some of their important breeders a helping hand," Caroll said.

"Being able to treat female gorillas with human fertility drugs is potentially a very important breakthrough."

The treatment could be applied now worldwide in gorilla breeding programs, like the one at the Bristol Zoo Garden.

The rare western lowland gorilla lives in the rain forests of West Africa, from southern Nigeria to the Congo River and Northern Angola.