The baby was separated from his mother for nearly two days following his birth because he was having difficulty breathing, according to the zoo.
Mahale and her new baby, Kucheza, which means "play" in Swahili, had to be separated following an emergency C-section. 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. , Mahale is seen entering her enclosure where Kucheza is patiently waiting in a nest of blankets.
Mahale appears to immediately recognize that little hand and snaps into "mom mode" and picks up her baby and embraces him tightly. "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.