With big eyes that could melt the hardest heart, this is the newest member of a mini gorilla dynasty.

The female gorilla born last week to Foufou at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park brings the number of gorillas at the park to 25.

She has been named Louna, after the Louna River running through the Lesio-Louna Reserve in the Congo, managed by the Aspinall Foundation.

Now 16, Foufou was born at sister park Howletts near Canterbury before being transferred to Port Lympne.

Louna joins other siblings; Yene aged eight and M’Passa, five.

The proud father, who has sired 25 babies to date, is 26-year-old Djala, who was Phil Ridges, Head of the Gorilla section, Port Lympne, said:

“We knew Foufou was expecting, but she kept us waiting a bit longer than we anticipated.

"We are delighted that yet again Foufou has shown signs of being an excellent mother and visitors can already see the baby out and about in its family enclosure with mum.

"With no more than 100,000 Western lowland gorillas left in the world, they will be extinct by 2020 if the number continues to decline at its present rate."

Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks play a major role in the successful breeding of captive gorillas, with the two parks housing 72 Western lowland gorillas between them.

This is the largest collection in human care, with three hand-reared babies having been successfully transferred to Gabon this summer."

Factfile

The gorilla is the largest of the great apes

A male weighs up to 215 kilos and measures up to six feet.

Females weigh about 90 kilos. Unlike the chimpanzee whose facial skin turns black only at maturity, the gorilla is black from birth.

Females first breed at around 10 years old with males ready to breed at 15. Gestation is from eight to nine months.

They give birth to a 4lb to 5lb baby every five years who would be dependent on the mother for three years