11-year-old gorilla mother Gana has been distraught and grieving over the sudden death of her baby Claudio

The 3-month-old gorilla baby died suddenly in his mothers arms last Saturday 08-16-08 at the gorilla compound of the zoo in Muenster, Germany.

“She was holding her baby in her arms when it died,” zoo director Joerg Adler told reporters, “at first she was just holding her baby and then she

started stroking the body to try and bring it back to life unable to accept that her baby is dead.”

The 3-month-old gorilla baby died suddenly in his mothers arms last Saturday 08-16-08 at the gorilla compound of the zoo in Muenster, Germany.

Claudio’s body will be examined to establish what caused his death, but so far mother Gana is not letting anyone close to him.

“She gently placed him on her back and walked slowly around the compound, stopping every few paces to look if he had returned to life. It is heartbreaking,”

he said.

And though she appears a bit calmer today, zookeepers

are still unable to get to the body of the gorilla baby, so fiercely is his mother guarding him.   

Text from: Gorilla Distraught Over Her Dead Baby

August 19, 2008 12:42 PM

By Christel Kucharz, ABC News Producer, Germany