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GV EXT London Zoo and sign "Lomie the gorilla & CU (2 shots)
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SV & CU Lomie the gorilla and her baby Salome (2 shots)
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SV Children watching
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SV PAN Lomie and Salome as children look on (4 shots)
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Initials BB/1755



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Salome -- a winsome baby gorilla -- made her first public appearance at London Zoo on Monday (26 July).

SYNOPSIS: The zoo is always a popular place but when it was announced that Salome was receiving visitors, her cage became a focal point for the many visitors now in London and the scores of local schoolchildren who're now on their summer school holidays. The new baby was named by her keepers and as her mother's name is Lomie and her father's name is Samson, Salome seemed a natural choice.

Salome's mum is a lowland gorilla from the Cameroons. Her first home was at Britain's Chessington zoo but she was bought by London zoo in 1969 when she was five years old. In 1971 she moved into the Ape Dens of the Sobell Pavilions with London zoo's famous gorilla, Guy, but the pair failed to produce any offspring. When motherhood kept on eluding her Lomie was sent for a visit to Bristol zoo where she was introduced to Samson. He had already proved his virility by siring the two gorillas of Bristol zoo's female gorilla, Delilah. Lomie stayed with Samson for eight months, returning home to London last February well and truly pregnant. During a thunderstorm earlier this month she gave birth to her five pound baby (about 2.26 kilograms) who's been thriving ever since.