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Tearjerking video: Chimpanzee reunited with newborn baby after nearly 2-day separation

By Catherine Stoddard
Updated  November 17, 2022 8:53pm EST
Pets and Animals
FOX TV Digital Team

Reunited: Chimpanzee embraces newborn baby after being apart

A chimpanzee named Mahale, recently gave birth at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, and was separated from her newborn following some complications.

Tearjerking footage captured the beautiful moment a chimpanzee and her newborn baby were reunited after being separated for nearly two days. 

Mahale and her new baby, Kucheza, which means "play" in Swahili, had to be separated following an emergency C-section.  

The Sedgwick County Zoo located in Wichita, Kansas, recorded the beautiful moment Mahale was able to finally hold her newborn baby for the first time and we’re all crying.  

In the video, which was shared on the zoo’s official Facebook account, Mahale is seen entering her enclosure where Kucheza is patiently waiting in a nest of blankets. 

At first, Mahale, carrying a white patterned blanket, appears apprehensive. She is then seen lifting herself upright a tad in order to see what is in the pile of blankets when suddenly, a tiny little hand stretches outward. 

Mahale appears to immediately recognize that little hand and snaps into "mom mode" and picks up her baby and embraces him tightly.  

One of Mahale’s keepers can be heard in the background of the video audibly crying (as we all probably would) and applauding Mahale for doing a great job. 

"It's one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen. She knows it’s her baby laying there. The baby is being very still, she’s looking at it like, ‘What’s going on,’ and once he moves, you see the relief and the love and just, oh my gosh, it’s just amazing. As a mom myself, it’s just, oh my gosh," the zoo’s communications director, Jennica King, told FOX TV Stations.  

Kucheza was born on Nov. 15 after Mahale’s labor was taking a little longer than normal, according to King.  

Kucheza

FILE - Kucheza, Mahale's new baby boy. (Sedgewick County Zoo)

Doctors decided to move ahead with a C-section but Kucheza was having trouble breathing after being born. He was taken by the veterinary team to be observed and Mahale was returned to her enclosure.  

Once the baby was cleared to return to his mother, Kucheza was transferred back to the chimpanzee enclosure where Mahale could see him but only through a mesh screen until keepers felt it was safe to fully reunite them.  

Mahale and Kucheza are "doing great," according to a recent post following their reunion.  

This is Mahale’s third baby. 

This story was reported from Los Angeles.