A young gorilla rescued from a plane’s cargo hold is adapting well and efforts to return him to his natural habitat are underway, officials say.

The gorilla, now around a year old, was discovered in a box on a Turkish Airlines flight from Nigeria to Thailand in December.

After a public competition, he was named Zeytin, or Olive.

In the months since he was found, Zeytin has been recuperating at Istanbul’s Polonezkoy Zoo Park in a “safe, isolated, and sterile environment,” according to the Directorate General of Nature Conservation and National Parks, where he has gained weight and bonded with his caretakers.

Authorities have begun the process of repatriating Zeytin to Nigeria.

They are seeking assurances that he will not be subject to illegal trade again and will be placed in a gorilla-only environment with appropriate climatic conditions.

Both gorilla species — the western and eastern gorillas, which populate central Africa’s remote forests and mountains — are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

As Istanbul emerges as a major air hub between continents, customs officials have increasingly intercepted illegally traded animals.

AP video by Ayse Wieting and Cavit Ozgul