REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!
An adorable baby gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park was physically introduced to her mother Monday following medical treatment.
The 12-day-old baby was born to her mother Imani on March 12 via emergency cesarean section.
Zoo staff immediately noticed, however, that the baby was having respiratory issues and needed to be admitted for 24-hour veterinary care.
Associate Director of Veterinary Services Nadine Lamberski said that the medical staff determined it was pneumonia.
“We’ve been working with the baby all weekend, and after having several days of experience treating her, it’s pretty obvious that we’ve been dealing with pneumonia,” Lamberski previously told The Washington Post.
Lamberski told the Associated Press that the baby gorilla recovered fairly well following surgery for a collapsed lung, so the zoo decided to take her back to her mother.
Located below is the raw footage of the reunion:
In the video you can see one of the zookeepers place the baby down in her mother’s cage.
The 18-year-old mother walks over to her new born and immediately starts to place straw around her in what seems to be an attempt to keep her baby girl warm. 
Photographers captured precious bonding moments between the two, especially those that showed the baby lying on her mother’s chest.
After three hours, the gorilla became acquainted with the little one and started to breastfed her baby for the very first time.
Zoo officials say that the new mom has been holding and carrying her baby since their reunion.
The San Diego Zoo plans to continuously monitor the baby gorilla’s health as well as make sure she is receiving enough nutrition.
It’s pretty mind blowing to see how a gorilla interacts with their baby. And, quite frankly, it’s not too different from how human mothers care for their young.
This remarkable post on Twitter illustrates just how similar baby humans and baby gorillas are in nature:
Reaction of a baby gorilla and a human baby to the cold stethoscope. pic.twitter.com/L0Nisbv0qd
— Mind Blowing Facts (@TheMindBlowing) March 24, 2014
Image via YouTube