Chicago zoo's injured gorilla leaves vet hospital

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A baby gorilla injured at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo has been released from a veterinary hospital and is back within eyesight of her mother.

Four-month-old gorilla Nayembi suffered serious cuts to her face last month. The injury appears to have been inflicted by another gorilla.

Nayembi needed emergency surgery and was hospitalized.

Last week she was moved back to the Regenstein Center for African Apes, though she is being kept in a separate area because she still cannot have physical contact with other animals.

Maureen Leahy is the zoo's curator of primates. She says Nayembi is in full view of her family group, where her mother keeps a watchful eye on her.

The baby gorilla also is showing "a hearty appetite for both food and play."