London Zoo's World Gorilla Day celebrations are back for 2025!
London Zoo is home to a family troop of seven critically endangered Western Lowland Gorillas: silverback Kiburi, adult females Effie and Mjukuu, their juveniles Alika and Gernot, and babies Venus and Juno, who will be celebrating their second ever World Gorilla Day, having been born in January and February 2024.
World Gorilla Day is on Wednesday 24 September but in case you can't make that day, we're putting on an extra weekend of celebrations on Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 September! It will be a day all about gorillas, with extra activities, keeper Q&As, games, puzzles, and prizes to be won! What's more, it's all included in our normal day admission ticket to the Zoo!
Why are we celebrating?
All four gorilla subspecies are threatened with extinction. Our Western Lowlands gorillas are classed as critically endangered, with numbers declining due to deforestation, poaching, and the mining of coltan, a rare metal that is commonly used in electronic devices including mobile phones and laptops, and 80% of which is mined from gorilla habitat.
London Zoo is part of a global breeding programme to safeguard these incredible animals, with the double arrival of babies Juno and Venus last year being a massive success. ZSL is also working in the Dja Biosphere Reserve in Cameroon to protect gorilla habitats and prevent poaching by working with local communities.
Throughout our World Gorilla Day celebrations, we want you to join us in celebrating the world's largest primates and support the work being done to protect them. Don't forget that these majestic primates share over 97% of their DNA with us!
Schedule of activities
Hang tight! The full itinerary of talks and activities will be posted here in due course so do keep an eye out - it'll be a spectacular one!
All Day
Head into Gorilla Kingdom where we will have a stand displaying lots of gorilla artefacts and biofacts, have quizzes, videos, and info on our gorilla conservation work including tips on how you can help protect wild gorilla populations!
There are Golden Tickets that will be given out throughout the day and prizes to be won at one of our talks.
Talk Times: TBC