Lengui The One-Handed Gorilla Has Come Back From The Brink Of Death Twice. Now, She’s Defied The Odds Again By Giving Birth In The Wild

Tough beginnings

While Lengui’s baby was born within a protected area for western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), a critically endangered subspecies of the western gorilla, her own start in life was marked by horror rather than protection.

In 1994, at just 18 months old, she was found alone in a maize field; the only remains of her family were the severed hand of her mother, caught in a snare. The villagers who tended the fields took her and tied her to a stake, feeding her small amounts of fruit in the hopes of keeping her alive to eventually sell.

Luckily, someone at Odzala National Park caught wind of the captive young gorilla, and after a scout came to verify Lengui’s existence, she was rescued. After a short stay at the park, she arrived at The Aspinall Foundation’s Brazzaville Gorilla Orphanage on April 22.

Lengui’s prospects didn’t look great from the outside. Although she had regained some strength by the time she’d arrived at the orphanage, she was still malnourished, weighing just 5 kilograms (11 pounds) – less than half of what she should’ve been. That wasn’t helped by the fact that she also had intestinal worms, and was fighting off infection in the sores created from the rope she’d been tied up with.

But with treatment – including a hefty dose of love from those working at the orphanage – she got better.

Back to the wild

After a temporary evacuation during the Second Republic of the Congo Civil War, Lengui was reintroduced into the wild at her current home, the Lésio-Louna reserve, in December 1998.

For a good few years, things went well for her – but in 2002, she was struck by an unfortunately cruel twist of fate when her group strayed into an area of the reserve where hunters had managed to go undetected. There, like her mother before her, Lengui’s hand was caught in a snare.

Although she managed to pull the snare from the ground, it had tightened in the process, causing damage to her hand that was beyond repair. With a potentially life-threatening infection beginning to creep up through her wrist, the decision was made to amputate Lengui’s lower arm.

Lengui was released back into the wild for a second time after her recovery, and she was successfully monitored for just over a decade with no apparent problems. Then, in 2014, she stopped popping up.

“She even disappeared completely for over four years," said Tony King, The Aspinall Foundation's Reintroduction Coordinator, in a statement sent to IFLScience, “shying away from contact with people, clearly understanding that we were responsible, to some extent or other, for amputating her hand.” 

Staff at The Aspinall Foundation feared the worst – not surprising considering how turbulent Lengui’s life had already been, and that the odds of survival are somewhat stacked against one-handed gorillas – but thankfully she reappeared on camera traps in 2018.

A second-time mom  

Fast forward to late 2025, and there was even brighter news – Lengui appeared to be pregnant. She’d given birth in the years following her second re-release, but to little fanfare. This time, however, her pregnancy brought much more excitement, and hopes of catching a glimpse of the little one.

In April this year came confirmation from Lésio-Louna’s lead gorilla researcher, Elie Djoli Camara, that Lengui had given birth. She’d been spotted in camera trap footage from February 21, cradling a week-old newborn to her chest as she walked through the forest.

“We’ve been waiting for this news for months, it seemed like an age until Elie finally sent the message we’d been waiting for. It’s wonderful news and another chapter in Lengui’s remarkable life story,” said King.

At over 30 years old, this will likely be Lengui’s last baby; it’s after this age that female gorillas typically reach the end of their reproductive lives. Having only one hand may also make things more difficult for her, but the team at the reserve will be keeping as close an eye as they can to see how mother and baby get on.

“We just have to wait, month by month, for any snippets of information the camera traps can provide," said Camara, “and then piece that information together, like a jigsaw, over time.”

In the meantime, Camara, King, and others who work to protect the gorillas hope Lengui’s story will bring attention to the threats that gorillas continue to face even over three decades after the determined gorilla was rescued – and spark action.

 “Lengui’s story is unique in many ways," said Amos Courage, The Aspinall Foundation’s Director of Overseas Projects who undertook Lengui’s evacuation from Brazzaville during the civil war, “and yet there are still gorillas being orphaned today, taken from the wild, and trafficked around the world.”

“We remain committed to providing those that are rescued with the opportunity to return to the wild. We hope Lengui’s story, and those of many others also successfully rewilded over several decades in partnership with the governments of Congo and Gabon, will help inform and inspire authorities the world over to do what it takes to return trafficked gorillas to the forests of their birth.” 

“Their stories are only just beginning.”