A small miracle has occurred in Puglia: a baby gorilla has been born at the Zoosafari in Fasano, the first in Italy for almost half a century. A new life that brings with it a message of hope for one of the world's most endangered species. The announcement, released by the zoo through its social channels, was greeted with enthusiasm and immediately went around the web. “Mama Tamani cuddles and protects him with immense love, under the gaze of Daddy Nasibu, Thabo and Tonka,” the park management wrote, accompanying the words with images showing the tenderness of the family group. The birth is an extraordinary achievement: not only a rare event, but also a demonstration of the soundness of the conservation project that, in 2024, brought to Fasano a nucleus of gorillas from the Rotterdam Zoo, the only one in Italy today. The cub spends its days in its mother's arms, in a bond made up of continuous contact and care, while the rest of the group watches over them, tracing the social structure typical of gorilla communities in the wild. Joy inevitably mixes with the memory of Riù, who died last year at age 54. He arrived in Fasano in 1994 and had been nicknamed the “Sad Gorilla” after the loss of his partner Pedro in 2008. His long life ended without an heir, but the newborn now seems to write a different chapter in the history of gorillas in Italy.