As many as eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are presumed to have contracted Covid-19 from a human handler. One of the animals has tested positive, marking the first known transmission of the virus to apes, zoo officials said on Monday.
Three among the band of critically endangered western lowland gorillas at the sprawling wildlife park have shown symptoms of the respiratory virus, such as coughing.
However, none of them appear severely ill, and all are expected to fully recover, the zoo said in a statement. Laboratory analysis of a fecal sample collected last Wednesday from one of two gorillas initially seen coughing detected the presence of the virus two days later, zoo spokesman Andrew James said.