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BBC News

In a first-of-its-kind move, the NHS has opened a dedicated boxing gym in south-east London aimed at improving mental health — not through sparring, but through the therapeutic, non-contact side of the sport.

The gym, located at the Goldie Leigh site in Abbey Wood, Bexley, is part of a 10-year partnership between the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and mental health charity Off The Ropes. It will serve a wide range of users, including those living with learning disabilities, Parkinson’s, dementia, and other neurological or mental health conditions.

The initiative is the brainchild of Warren Dunkley, a former professional boxer and NHS occupational therapist with 25 years of experience. He founded Off The Ropes after discovering how powerful boxing could be as a mental health tool while working on a ward.

“A few [clients] found out that I used to box and then said, ‘Can you bring your pads in, can we do some boxing training?’ and then it has kind of just took off from there,” Dunkley said.

The sessions are strictly non-contact, focusing on movement, rhythm, and focus — and for many, they’ve become a lifeline.

“It’s ticking two boxes for me,” Dunkley said. “I like helping people and I like my job as an occupational therapist, but I get to do my passion of boxing as well.”

A Workout for the Mind

What began with one weekly session has expanded to three sessions a week across acute, intensive care, and female wards. Now, with its own dedicated gym space on the NHS estate, Off The Ropes has a home to grow.

Josh Nelson, who was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder as a teenager, has been boxing for 15 years and is now a coach at the gym.

“I can have a manic episode where everything is really heightened. I can also be the total opposite,” he said. “Boxing has helped a great deal. It’s instilled discipline in me, focus, to keep working hard and not giving up.”

Lauren Louise, another long-time participant, says boxing helped her find a confidence she didn’t know she had.

“Boxing brings out a side to me that I never used to think I had. It brought out my confidence,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what level of boxing you are. It’s the fact that you can come here and do what you’re capable of doing.”

Rethinking NHS Spaces

With the number of people accessing NHS mental health, learning disability and autism services rising sharply — up nearly 40% since before the pandemic — Oxleas chief executive Dr. Ife Okocha says the need for innovative, community-rooted approaches is greater than ever.

“What we don’t want is people struggling to find commercial properties when we can support them and make sure that the NHS estate is also not just a health facility, but a wellbeing facility for communities that we serve,” said Dr. Okocha.

He hopes the Off The Ropes gym will serve as a model for other NHS trusts — a way of reimagining unused spaces as hubs for healing and empowerment.

For Dunkley, it's simple: “Boxing gives people a sense of control. A sense of progress. And in mental health, that’s everything.”

UK Health System Opens Boxing Gym to Boost Mental Health — No Fighting Required

The first young trees grown from seeds of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree — felled in an act of vandalism that shocked the country — will be planted this weekend, as part of a nationwide effort to turn destruction into hope.

Five saplings will be planted on Saturday in Coventry, Staffordshire, Berkshire, Cambridge, and Strabane. More will follow next week in Leeds, Sunderland, and Hexham, near where the original tree once stood beside Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

The plantings are part of the National Trust’s Trees of Hope initiative, which aims to distribute 49 saplings — one for every foot of the original tree’s height — to communities across the UK. Nearly 500 groups applied to receive one.

The original Sycamore Gap tree became a national symbol of quiet beauty and endurance before it was cut down in September 2023. Two men from Cumbria, Daniel Michael Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were sentenced to four years and three months in prison this past July after being convicted of criminal damage.

Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, said the saplings would serve both as homes for nature and as reminders of resilience. “There are always good things worth fighting for, even after something so senseless,” she said.

The first wave of trees will be planted during National Tree Week, which runs from 22 to 30 November.

One sapling will go to The Tree Sanctuary in Coventry, founded by three teenagers aiming to protect urban trees. Another will be planted at a site in Staffordshire commemorating the Minnie Pit mining disaster, and others will go to Greenham Common in Berkshire, the Lisnafin Community Centre in Strabane, and the community pollinator project Coton Loves Pollinators in Cambridge.

Martina Irwin, a co-founder of The Tree Sanctuary, said their sapling would be planted among other trees previously saved by the group. “It will serve as a beacon to inspire respect, understanding, and a sense of responsibility toward all trees,” she said.

Next week, saplings will be planted at the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, Hexham General Hospital, and the Veterans in Crisis charity in Sunderland.

In early December, one sapling will be planted at Henshaw Church of England Primary School — the closest school to where the Sycamore Gap tree once stood.

Fifteen more saplings will be planted in 2026, each one going to one of the UK’s national parks. That includes Northumberland National Park, where the original tree grew and where its absence is still deeply felt.

Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust’s Hadrian’s Wall properties, said seeing the first saplings planted felt emotional. “It’s incredible to think that this weekend the first ‘offspring’ of this very famous tree will be planted,” he said. “It feels like just yesterday that those tentative first shoots appeared.”

One sapling — the very first grown — was gifted last summer to King Charles III. According to the National Trust, it will be planted for the nation at a later date.

Historic Sycamore Gap Tree Offsprings To Be Planted

A year ago, Laura Cooper was feeling isolated. On a quiet Monday night, the 43-year-old from Scunthorpe shared a simple message on social media: she wanted to start a friendship group for local women. She wasn’t expecting much.

Within hours, more than 100 responses poured in.

Today, her small idea has grown into the Scunthorpe Lovely Ladies, a thriving community of 926 members — and counting. What began as one woman’s search for connection has become a lifeline for women across the UK, and even as far as France and Guyana.

“It’s been amazing, it’s changed my life,” Cooper said. “It’s made me feel like I’m the old Laura again. I’m more confident and I can do anything.”

Her personal story has since gone global, drawing invitations to appear on national television and in magazines. She recently made an appearance on Good Morning Britain, complete with professional hair and makeup.

“I wouldn't say it's shocked me,” she said. “It is a reality check for a lot of ladies and myself — you can be lonely, you're needing friends. I've just created this from nothing. It's positive and it's needed, I believe.”

At a recent group meetup at the Priory pub in Scunthorpe, heavy rain pounded outside, but the mood inside was warm and welcoming. Every woman who arrived was greeted with a hug. New faces are joining all the time, Cooper said, as word of mouth spreads from mothers to daughters, friends to neighbours.

“The positivity — everyone brings everybody up,” she added. “We always meet with a hug, there's always a smile — it's a loving, warm group.”

The format is simple, but for many, it’s been transformative.

Lucy Robinson, 37, joined after losing two of the closest people in her life — her stepfather, whom she called “dad,” and her grandmother — within six months.

“I’d lost my biggest support system,” she said. “I’d literally just stay in bed.”

As she and her mum became more withdrawn, invitations from others stopped. The sense of isolation deepened.

Then she saw Laura’s post. An hour later, she was in.

“It makes you feel amazing,” Robinson said. “It makes you feel wanted and that you are part of something.”

The group doesn’t run as a charity, and there are no subscriptions. Each member pays their way for outings and activities. At meetings, raffle tickets help fund events like their upcoming Christmas party.

Recent adventures include a night out in Cleethorpes that ended with a scramble to find a bed-and-breakfast — some of the women had missed the last train home after enjoying themselves a bit too much.

For 62-year-old Monika Lear, who moved to Scunthorpe this year, the group has been an anchor. “It’s made a big difference,” she said. She’s now organizing a Christmas card-making evening for the group.

Rosie Cook, 44, said she has long struggled with her mental health but found real support among the Lovely Ladies.

“It’s unbelievable how a group of ladies that need that little bit of something in their lives, come here and feel like they're part of a family,” she said.

For Cooper, the momentum isn’t slowing down.

“It’ll keep going on and on as far as I can keep going,” she said. “I’m going to take this to the top, hopefully.”

Group member Marjory Dunning, 79, smiled. “Laura will not be satisfied until she's got every lonely and isolated lady in the district — she's always looking for them.”

From One Lonely Post to Nearly 1,000 Friends: How This Woman in Scunthorpe Built a Sisterhood

ABC News

Lecho Lopez watched his 5-year-old nephew sound out his first word from a graphic novel — “bad.” Ironic, he thought, considering that comics had done nothing but good for him. That moment, inside Lopez’s Sacramento comic shop, came as the city considers repealing a long-forgotten law that technically still makes scenes like that illegal.

Passed in 1949, the ordinance bans distributing comics to minors if they depict crimes like arson, murder, or rape — a holdover from a time when comics were blamed for everything from illiteracy to juvenile delinquency. Though the law hasn’t been enforced in decades, the City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee voted unanimously this week to move ahead with its repeal. The proposal now heads to the full council for a final vote, alongside a new resolution to designate the third week of September as "Sacramento Comic Book Week."

“It’s a silly law,” said Lopez, owner of JLA Comics. “A lot of good things come out of comic books.” For Lopez, that includes literacy, a sense of purpose, and a path away from gangs growing up. As someone with dyslexia, he said comics were the first thing he could actually absorb and enjoy reading.

“My mom bought me Ultimate Spider-Man #1 when I was 9,” Lopez recalled. But it was Kingdom Come, an illustrated epic about DC’s Justice League, that “changed my life.” Its hyper-realistic art, he said, made the stories feel more real, more relevant.

Supporters of the repeal argue that the law is not only outdated but could be weaponized in the current wave of book bans across the country. Comic author Eben Burgoon, who started a petition to overturn the ordinance, said the risk isn’t theoretical.

“These antiquated laws kind of set up this jeopardy where bad actors could work hard to make this medium imperiled,” Burgoon said at Tuesday’s hearing. He praised Sacramento’s “wonderful” comics scene, which includes events like CrockerCon at the local art museum.

The 1949 law reflects a larger historical trend of moral panic around new media. “Every time there’s a new medium or a new way of distributing a medium, there is an outrage and an attempt to suppress it,” said Jeff Trexler, interim director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

He points out that in the 1920s, New York created a commission to ban films considered “obscene” or “sacrilegious.” In the 1950s, comic books became the target, leading to self-censorship and local bans, like Sacramento’s.

The California Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Los Angeles County in 1959, ruling it was too broad and unconstitutional. Trexler believes Sacramento’s ban would likely fail the same legal test if challenged today.

“There is no good reason to keep this law on the books,” said Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association. “It flies in the face of modern First Amendment norms.”

While some comics include violence — Lopez showed an AP reporter scenes from Batman/Deadpool and Epitaphs from the Abyss that feature car smashes and bow-and-arrow fights — experts argue that content alone doesn’t make a story harmful.

“Spider-Man is a very mature concept,” said Benjamin Morse, a media studies lecturer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “It’s a kid who’s lost his parents, his uncle dies to violence and he vows to basically be responsible.” Morse, who once worked at Marvel, said comics are often more about consequences than glorification.

Burgoon said fears about comics have always been misplaced. “It makes imaginative thinkers,” he told the committee. “It does not make widespread delinquency. It does not make societal harm.”

For Lopez, the repeal is overdue — not just because the law is unenforced, but because it doesn’t reflect what comics are or what they can do.

“At that age, I couldn’t understand most things. But I could understand comics,” he said. “They gave me something to believe in. Something to do. Something to be.”

Sacramento Moves to Repeal 1949 Comic Book Ban Targeting Teens and Kids

Science Daily

Every spring, the sounds of warblers and Wood Thrushes fill the forests and backyards of eastern North America. But few realize that these migratory birds spend most of their lives far to the south—in a group of five sprawling forests across Central America that are now vanishing at an alarming rate.

A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reveals just how essential these forests are. Published in Biological Conservation, the research shows that the Five Great Forests of Central America, spanning from southern Mexico to northern Colombia, provide wintering and stopover habitat for between 10 and 50 percent of the global populations of 40 migratory bird species. And many of these birds are among the fastest declining species in North America.

“What happens in Central America directly affects the birds we love in the United States and Canada,” said Anna Lello-Smith, lead author and conservation scientist at WCS. “These forests aren’t just tropical wilderness — they’re at the heart of migration.”

Among the study’s key findings:

• Nearly one-quarter of all Wood Thrushes and Golden-winged Warblers winter in these forests.
• Over one-third of Kentucky Warblers do the same.
• More than 40 percent of the world’s Cerulean Warblers—down by more than 70 percent since 1970—pass through these forests during spring migration.

Two regions stand out as especially vital: the Selva Maya (spanning Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala) and the Moskitia (in Honduras and Nicaragua). Together with Indio Maíz-Tortuguero, La Amistad, and Darién, they form a corridor about the size of Virginia. This landscape supports not just migratory songbirds, but jaguars, tapirs, and scarlet macaws as well.

“Every fall, billions of birds pour south through the narrow land bridge of Central America,” said Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, director of Conservation Science at the Cornell Lab and a co-author of the study. “The density of warblers, flycatchers, and vireos crowded into these five forests is astounding.”

But those same forests are disappearing quickly. In the Moskitia alone, nearly one-third of the forest has been cleared in just 20 years, mostly for illegal cattle ranching. Across the Selva Maya, a quarter of the forest has been lost in only 15 years.

“If we lose the last great forests of Central America — and we are — we lose the birds that define our eastern forests in North America,” said Jeremy Radachowsky, WCS Regional Director for Mesoamerica.

Despite the bleak numbers, the researchers say the situation isn’t hopeless. Indigenous and local communities are already leading efforts to restore forests, prevent fires, and build sustainable economies based on products like allspice and cacao. But they face significant challenges, including land pressure, limited funding, and threats from illegal activities.

One of the study’s major contributions is showing how these tropical forests are directly connected to specific regions in North America. By mapping what they call “sister landscapes,” researchers identified areas like the Appalachians, the Great Lakes, New England, and the Mississippi Delta as breeding grounds for the same birds that winter in Central America.

“In many ways, the Five Great Forests are tropical counterparts to North America’s eastern forests,” Lello-Smith said. “They shelter the same birds when they’re out of sight—but not out of danger.”

Protecting even small portions of these forests, the authors say, can have outsized impacts. Each hectare of habitat saved helps sustain bird populations across the hemisphere—and supports rural communities along the way.

“Every hectare we protect in Central America has ripple effects for birds and people across the hemisphere,” said Lello-Smith. “If you love watching your birds come back each spring, we invite you to discover the tropical forests they call home—and help protect them.”

Study Finds Nearly Half of Some Migratory Birds Rely on Central America’s Disappearing Forests

ABC - Australia

For Mursal Sadat, co-captain of the newly rebranded Afghan Women United football team, stepping back onto the field wasn’t just a return to sport—it was a defiant act of hope.

Sadat and her teammates played their first official matches in four years last month at the FIFA Unites Women’s Series in Morocco. The tournament marked the team’s international comeback since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, imposing sweeping restrictions that banned women from playing sports, attending school, and accessing basic freedoms.

“It feels amazing to be that person, to make history,” Sadat told ABC Sport before the team’s game against Missouri in Norman.

The team is made up entirely of Afghan refugees living around the world, with many of the players, like Sadat, now based in Australia. Their participation was symbolic—but it also served as a rallying point for women back home in Afghanistan, many of whom are now banned from watching or participating in sport.

“We’ve received a lot of good feedback from women back home,” Sadat said. “Whenever there is someone saying that these girls belong to the kitchen… all those women are coming and defending us. They’re writing, ‘We know it is just the beginning. We believe in you. We know you guys are our hope.’”

Afghan Women United played three matches in the round-robin series, losing to Chad (6–1) and Tunisia (4–0), before closing the tournament with a commanding 7–0 win over Libya. For Sadat, the results weren’t the point.

“Because when all is lost, hope is still there,” she said. “And hope is the strongest weapon that we’re carrying with us.”

From Kabul to Melbourne

Sadat was one of many Afghan women footballers who fled Kabul during the Taliban’s return in August 2021. She was granted an emergency humanitarian visa by the Australian government and resettled in Melbourne, where she now lives. But the trauma of exile runs deep.

“Whenever I would go to buy some groceries, I’d be like, ‘Why am I buying this juice? I don’t need it to survive, but people in my country, they’re in poverty. They need this,’” she said.

She described dealing with severe depression and survivor’s guilt during her first years in Australia, saying it was football that helped her find a way forward.

“At that point, to be honest, football was the only thing that was keeping me alive and safe,” she said. “The only time that I would feel happy was when we would go out to the parks to play soccer… it would just give me a feeling like I’m home.”

Through a partnership with Melbourne Victory, Afghan refugee players have been participating in local leagues since 2022. But building a fully functional team ready for international competition has been far from simple.

Obstacles Off the Pitch

Even the team’s appearance in Morocco nearly didn’t happen. Originally scheduled to play in Dubai, the tournament had to be moved just days before kick-off when players couldn’t secure visas for the UAE. Moroccan authorities stepped in to host the matches on short notice.

“It was something unexpected… but everyone tried their best to stay positive and move the tournament to a new location,” Sadat said. “Because the important thing was that this tournament needed to take place. That was the actual championship for us.”

While FIFA framed the tournament as a step forward under its “Strategy for Action for Afghan Women’s Football,” the players still face major hurdles. Afghan Women United is not officially recognized by FIFA and cannot participate in sanctioned tournaments, including qualifiers for the Women’s Asian Cup and the 2027 World Cup.

That authority remains with the Taliban-controlled Afghan Football Federation, which has barred Afghan women from representing the country in international football.

FIFA declined to answer questions from ABC Sport about any alternative pathways for Afghan women’s participation or whether outreach inside Afghanistan is ongoing, citing the “sensitive nature” of the situation.

Still Building

Despite the lack of official recognition, the team is determined to push forward. “Unfortunately, we are not a national team yet,” Sadat told fans during an Instagram Q&A after returning to Melbourne. “But we are building towards that goal, and once it’s recognised… there will be a chance for every Afghan around the world.”

The road ahead remains uncertain. The team is still navigating bureaucracy, funding issues, and the emotional weight of displacement. But for Sadat and her teammates, simply being seen is a victory.

“We know you guys are our hope,” one supporter back home told her. That message, Sadat said, is what keeps them going.

“Because when everything else is taken from you, hope is the one thing they can’t erase.”

Afghan Women’s Soccer Team Returns After Four Years in Exile: “Hope Is the Strongest Weapon We Have”

Science Alert

In a breakthrough that could reshape how we source key materials for clean energy and electronics, researchers have discovered that a common fern can not only absorb rare earth elements (REEs) from the soil—but actually grow them into crystals inside its own tissues.

The plant in question is Blechnum orientale, a type of fern already known for its ability to pull metals from the ground. But a team led by Liuqing He at the Chinese Academy of Sciences found something far more unusual: the fern is growing monazite crystals—a mineral rich in neodymium, lanthanum, and cerium—within its cells under normal environmental conditions.

It’s the first time scientists have ever seen a plant do this.

“Phytomining, a green strategy using hyperaccumulator plants to extract metals from soil, offers potential for sustainable REE supply but remains underexplored,” the researchers wrote in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

There are 17 rare earth elements in total, and while they’re not technically scarce, they are difficult and expensive to extract in usable form. These metals are essential to everything from smartphones and computers to wind turbines, broadband cables, and medical imaging equipment.

As the world ramps up green tech production, demand for REEs is soaring—and so is the environmental toll of traditional mining. That’s where phytomining, or plant-based mineral extraction, comes in. Certain plants known as hyperaccumulators are capable of growing in metal-rich soils and binding with metals through natural biological processes.

Until now, phytomining’s biggest promise was in pulling metals into plant tissue. This new finding takes things a step further: Blechnum orientale isn’t just storing trace metals—it’s actively crystallizing them into mineral form, mimicking the geological conditions normally required deep underground under high heat and pressure.

Using microscopic imaging and chemical analysis, researchers identified monazite forming inside the fern. The crystals grew spontaneously, organizing themselves into what the scientists described as a “chemical garden.”

“This discovery reveals an alternative pathway for monazite mineralization under remarkably mild conditions and highlights the unique role of plants in initiating such processes,” the team wrote.

The researchers are now exploring whether this phenomenon is unique to B. orientale, or if other plants—like Dicranopteris linearis, another metal-absorbing fern—might do the same. So far, there are hints but no proof.

The next challenge is figuring out how to extract the monazite from the plant and separate it into usable rare earth materials efficiently. The process must minimize resource loss and avoid damage to the environment—goals that have made traditional REE mining so controversial.

“This work substantiates the feasibility of phytomining and introduces an innovative, plant-based approach for sustainable REE resource development,” the authors concluded.

While still early-stage, the discovery could signal a shift toward greener methods for sourcing the raw materials that underpin much of the modern world.

Scientists Discover Fern That Grows Rare Earth Crystals, Opening Door to Greener Mining

For the first time since its debut in 1964, the University of Oklahoma’s iconic covered wagon mascot, the Sooner Schooner, is being driven by a Native American woman.

Brianna Howard, a junior at OU and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, first took the reins during the Sooners’ season opener against Illinois State. She returned to the field again on Saturday before the team’s matchup with Missouri, reflecting on the moment.

“I only had a minute to get on the Schooner, get the reins and go,” Howard said. “I didn’t have enough time to get too nervous. When I went out there, it was amazing. I could not even hear the audience I was so zoned into driving.”

The Sooner Schooner is pulled by two white ponies named Boomer and Sooner and thunders across the field before kickoff and after every Oklahoma touchdown. It’s maintained by OU spirit groups, including the all-male RUF/NEKS and the all-female Lil’ Sis, whose members take turns driving it throughout the game.

Howard’s turn behind the reins carries special significance. The mascot’s wagon, modeled after a pioneer-era Conestoga, is seen by some as a painful symbol of westward expansion and forced Native removal. Howard said she understands that view but sees her role differently.

“I know that for me, it’s a representation of taking back something that was used to oppress my people and my culture, and now that I’m in charge, it’s giving us the power,” she said. “Not everyone’s going to see it that way, and that’s OK.”

The Sooner Schooner tradition has been a fixture at OU games for more than six decades. Jack Roehm, president of the RUF/NEKS and a senior at OU, also drove the Schooner on Saturday and called the spectacle one of the sport’s most unique.

“It’s a historic tradition after every score having the ponies run across the field,” Roehm said. “There’s nothing like it in college football.”

Howard’s debut comes during Native American Heritage Month and marks a new chapter in one of college football’s most recognizable traditions — one now driven, quite literally, by change.

Native American Woman Makes History Driving Sooner Schooner at the University of Oklahoma

The Guardian

Less than a year after the Palisades fire scorched thousands of homes across Los Angeles, the first fully rebuilt house is ready for new life.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Friday that the Department of Building and Safety had officially certified the home for occupancy, calling the milestone “an important moment of hope.”

“The Palisades community has been through an unimaginable year, and my heart breaks for every family that won’t be able to be home this holiday season,” Bass said. “But today is an important moment of hope. The City of Los Angeles remains committed to expediting every aspect of the rebuilding process, until every family is back home.”

The new home, located in Pacific Palisades, spans nearly 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. It replaces a 1,600-square-foot ranch-style house that was destroyed during the January fire.

Fire-resistant upgrades are part of the design, including closed eaves to block ember intrusion and pre-installed plumbing for a fire-defense system capable of coating the home with water or retardant if flames approach.

A public tour of the home is scheduled for December 6, giving community members a first-hand look at the rebuild.

According to the Los Angeles Times, about 2,000 rebuilding permits have been issued so far across the Palisades and Eaton fire zones. While only one full home has been completed in Pacific Palisades, hundreds of projects are underway—roughly 340 are currently under construction in that neighborhood alone.

In nearby Altadena, another structure has also been certified: a 630-square-foot accessory dwelling unit (ADU), which replaced a garage lost in the Eaton fire. The main house on the property survived.

City officials say recovery is happening at different speeds depending on location, damage severity, and complexity of permits. But with over 2,500 property owners in Los Angeles city and county submitting full rebuilding applications—and more than 1,100 of those already approved—there are signs of momentum.

In total, the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 13,000 homes. For many, rebuilding is just beginning. For one family in Pacific Palisades, however, this week marked the end of a long road—and the start of a new chapter.

Pacific Palisades Celebrates Rebuilt Home After Devastating LA Fires

People

For the first time since 2016, Zoo Knoxville is celebrating the birth of a Western lowland gorilla — a hopeful moment for one of the most critically endangered primate species on Earth.

The newborn arrived just after 8 a.m. on November 19 to 27-year-old Kumi, who joined the Tennessee zoo in 2024. It’s her first baby with silverback Bantu and her first birth since arriving at the zoo.

Zoo staff shared the news on social media with a short video of Kumi cradling her newborn, writing, “KUMI’S BABY IS HERE!” The post quickly racked up thousands of views and comments from followers thrilled by the arrival.

“Kumi has been calm, attentive and doing everything exactly as a new mom should,” a zoo spokesperson told News 6. In a follow-up post, the zoo said Kumi’s baby has already begun gentle introductions to the rest of the troop and that staff are taking a hands-off approach, allowing mom and baby to bond naturally.

“We can’t stop staring at this little face,” the zoo captioned the post.

Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered, with populations dropping more than 60 percent in the last 20 to 25 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The animals live in dense tropical forests in parts of Central Africa, making accurate population estimates difficult. The biggest threats to their survival are poaching and disease. Even under ideal conditions, conservation scientists estimate it would take about 75 years for the species to recover.

In a statement, Zoo Knoxville President and CEO Bill Street called the birth “a new hope for the future of this critically endangered species.” He added, “This new arrival is an important step forward for Western lowland gorillas.”

Zoo Knoxville is part of a network of accredited zoos working to maintain healthy, genetically diverse gorilla populations in human care. Breeding programs like this one are designed to support conservation efforts and help ensure the species’ long-term survival.

The baby’s name and sex have not yet been revealed, but early signs point to a healthy, thriving start.

For now, Kumi and her newborn are keeping close. As one zoo update put it: “Both Kumi and her newborn are doing well.”

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