An 8-year-old female gorilla at an Illinois zoo named Binti Jua, made worldwide headlines when she carried a boy to safety after he slipped away from his mother, climbed through a barrier and fell nearly 20 feet into the Western Lowland Gorilla Pit, located at the Brookfield Zoo, on Aug. 19, 1996.
The boy who suffered a broken hand and cuts to his face was lying on the ground of the pen where six other gorillas were present, before Binti Jua picked him up around the waist, carried him safely to a door where rescuers waited as a crowd looked on.


The gorilla was reportedly following her maternal instincts considering she carried her own 17-month baby on her back throughout her encounter with the boy. The rescued boy and his mother were also never identified and the now 28-year-old gorilla is still living in the Brookfield Zoo gorilla exhibit.