• Two young gorillas, reared indoors after being rejected by their mothers, saw grass for the first time at Paignton zoo yesterday.

  Four-year-old Kiondo and three-year-old Kivu, born at Barcelona zoo, were let loose in their new enclosure by keepers wearing protective masks because the two gorillas are under a six-month rabies quarantine.

  However, another serious health threat was revealed with the news that gorillas are the source of a form of HIV in human beings.

  Scientists in Cameroon say that simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that are more closely related to HIV-1 Group O than any other simian virus yet detected are endemic within the gorilla population.

  A report of their study in the journal Nature suggests that the virus was transmitted to people who butcher gorillas as part of the bushmeat or traditional medicine trades.

  HIV-1 has been shown to come from three sources. In two cases chimpanzees were found to be the origin, but the third was a mystery. Analysis suggests it was transmitted to gorillas from chimpanzees, although the route has still to be established.

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