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CARL AZUZ: Hi, I'm Carl Azuz.
As we wind down our coverage for the spring season,
we're examining some new questions about COVID-19.
It's not just the biggest news story of the past year.
It's one of the biggest of the 21st century.
International experts don't know for sure
where the virus came from.
But one question that's getting more and more attention
is did this virus leak or escape from a Chinese laboratory
before spreading around the world?
At first, international scientists called
that just a conspiracy theory.
Last April, we reported that the World Health Organization
and the US Centers for Disease Control
were among the groups that believed the virus originated
in wildlife, likely bats, and then
jumped over to people as some other viruses have done.
But as 2020 went on, some members
of the Trump administration and Congress
pushed for a closer look into what became
known as the Lab Leak Theory.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization
said that theory was the least likely explanation,
but that more research was needed.
Now, a growing number of health officials
are saying they're not convinced the virus spread naturally
like it might have through bats, and then a deeper
investigation is crucial.
China has said the COVID outbreak started at a seafood
market in the Eastern Chinese city of Wuhan,
and that its investigation is over.
But some American experts say China lied about that.
For one thing, there's a question of timing.
At a Research Laboratory in Wuhan,
Chinese scientists said they didn't encounter COVID
until late December of 2019.
But several workers at that lab got sick the previous month
and had to be hospitalized, according
to a US intelligence report.
The Chinese lab strongly denies that.
According to a separate report by CNN,
a number of Chinese whistleblowers
who tried to warn the world about the virus last year
have gone missing or are being held by the Chinese government
or have died from COVID-19.
Analysts say all that suggests that China's
Communist government is trying to cover something up.
China has not allowed an open investigation into the origins
of coronavirus.
It puts strict rules on a previous study
by the World Health Organization.
But international experts say an unhindered study
is needed to help guard against another pandemic.
US President Joe Biden has given American intelligence officials
90 days to report on whether the coronavirus came from an animal
or an accidental lab leak.
10-Second Trivia.
In a lunar eclipse, what is the term for the dark shadow
the Earth throws over the moon?
Umbra, tetrad, node, or umber?
The umbra is the dark part of Earth's
shadow in a lunar eclipse, and the moon's
shadow in a solar eclipse.
In yesterday's total lunar eclipse, reportedly
the first one of those since 2019,
the Earth's shadow completely covered
the moon for 15 minutes.
But this wasn't just any old lunar eclipse.
It coincided with what's called a blood moon.
INDRA PETERSONS: What it was is a total lunar eclipse.
What does that mean?
That means the moon was completely
in the shadow of the Earth.
So why red, right?
Let's look at it another way.
Let's pretend we spin you around,
and we'll pretend you're on the moon looking back at the Earth.
So what are you seeing?
You're seeing all of the Earth's sunsets and sunrises
at the exact same time being projected
right back at the moon.
And then the moon just reflects that red color back at Earth.
That's why it looks red.
CARL AZUZ: And that wasn't just any old blood moon.
Because it was close to Earth in its elliptical orbit,
that made it appear bigger, earning the name supermoon.
And because this is the month of May when flowers bloom,
the full moon is known by the name flowers.
So what happened yesterday was titled
The Super Flower Blood Moon, which sounds
like a power up in Mario Kart.
And it was at least partially visible in North and South
America on Wednesday morning.
And East Asia and Australia in the evening.
How common are super flower blood moons?
They're not.
For one thing, there are only two to four super moons
we can see every year.
Most of them do not coincide with eclipses.
There's only one total lunar eclipse
on the calendar in 2021, and it just happened
to be in the month of May, so--
rare.
But if you missed it, don't fret.
There's an annular solar eclipse set for June 10th.
We're taking you to East Central Africa for our next story
today.
It centers on the veterinarians who are
caring for wildlife in Rwanda.
The Virunga Mountains are home to some famous and endangered
primates-- the golden monkey is one,
the mountain gorilla is the other.
These can grow to be 5 and 1/2 feet tall
and weigh as much as 500 pounds, and they
can catch diseases from humans.
Richard Quest explores what it's like to have
gorillas in the midst.
RICHARD QUEST: The Virunga Mountain chain in East Africa--
stunning, beautiful, and boasting one
of the most diverse habitats on the continent.
This is where to find the true kings of the jungle.
More than half of the world's population of endangered
mountain gorillas live here, and I've
come to meet a few of them.
Duly sanitized and ready to start
the climb to the gorillas.
We have to wear masks throughout.
Obviously, this is to protect ourselves.
But more importantly, to protect the gorillas from us.
Quite right too.
Onwards.
We, humans, share 98% of our DNA with gorillas.
It means coronavirus may be just as harmful to them as us.
JEAN BOSCO NOHELI: Even before COVID,
gorillas have suffered from respiratory infections.
We have confirmed that some of those were from humans,
but they are more vulnerable with our activities, given
that they are close to us.
You can transmit disease to them.
Our diseases are very deadly when
they get to the communities.
RICHARD QUEST: Dr. Noheli, Jean Bosco works
for the Gorilla Doctors, a team of 12
veterinarians in the region.
His patients have been more prone to catching
human illnesses for more than a century ever
since the expansion of agriculture in the area.
This susceptibility to all illnesses,
combined with historic hunting of gorillas,
was disastrous for the population.
JEAN BOSCO NOHELI: In 1933, "King Kong"
movie, that one has initiated more
hunting, buying permits and going out and hunting gorillas.
If you kill one, you're extraordinary.
So that's what went on leading to the significant decline
of great apes.
RICHARD QUEST: In the 1980s, their number was less than 250.
Thanks to the work of Dr. Noel and his team
and the conservation efforts, today, there are
more than a thousand of them.
Delivering medication and performing surgeries,
of course, is a real trial.
On cases, they weigh up to 500 pounds.
JEAN BOSCO NOHELI: They are very heavy, very strong.
We don't usually have to carry that much mega silverbacks
from a place to another place because our hospital
is right in the forest.
So we do everything there.
RICHARD QUEST: Hunting is now illegal in the parks.
But it's still a big problem for even the smallest
in the group like this infant, whose hand was
caught in a poacher's snare.
JEAN BOSCO NOHELI: If you don't intervene in time,
that animal will die or lose the hand or foot,
depends on what snared is.
RICHARD QUEST: Freeing and returning
home safely to the group was a career highlight for Dr. Noel.
JEAN BOSCO NOHELI: The feeling while you're
making a difference-- it's very unique.
You see how much you're contributing
using veterinary science to restore a population.
It's really beyond imagination.
You feel like, wow, I'm there.
RICHARD QUEST: As for me, observing
these miraculous creatures so close to us and so
threatened by what we do--
it's difficult to express how overwhelming
it is to be in that presence and watching the interplay,
trying to work out what's going on between the silverbacks
and the blackbacks.
And the kids would often tumble, and the internal dynamics--
and then they just wander off, leaving us wondering, well,
[inaudible].
CARL AZUZ: When Xiao Qi Ji, the National Zoo's panda cub
was born, CNN's Jeanne Moos described him as
a shrieking alien salamander.
Thankfully, he's now in a cuter face.
The giant panda-- well, he's not that giant yet,
but he is 9 months old.
And he's gone from shrieking to climbing, getting
cuddled by his mother, cuddling her back,
and climbing some more.
With the National Zoo reopened, visitors
can now see him in action, assuming
he's not hiding in a tree.
What's black and white and cute all over?
A border collie.
But I don't mean to pun the pandas.
They provide pan-tential for pandering pandas.
After pandling a pandemic, there's pand-up demand
to unburden ourselves and for families
of the panda coming out to the zoo is a bare necessity.
For pandas to foxes--
Foxboro High School, that is.
Thank you for watching from Foxborough, Massachusetts.
With one show left to go in our 2021 spring season,
I'm Carl Azuz for "CNN 10."