You know, we can provide food, but we can't teach those behaviors. “We know that animal moms are the best moms. Typically, baby gorillas are hand-reared by caretakers for a short period before being introduced to an adoptive mother, he said, and this might be the first example of a baby having a surrogate so early.
įredrika, also known as Freddy, started to care for the baby as early as his first day, Kuhar said. She took over care for the baby following the birth. The oldest gorilla, Freddy, has raised multiple children. So she really responded immediately, kept him warm, kind of kept him safe.” “And Fredrika, our oldest female, walked right in, picked him up and has been holding him ever since. “She wasn't really interested in caring for him, so we turned it over to the rest of the group and sort of let the rest of the group have access to the baby,” Kuhar said. She gave birth earlier than expected, said Executive Director Chris Kuhar, and then didn’t seem to connect with the baby. “Not only experiencing what for me is the first gorilla birth I've ever experienced, but then seeing the dad go through the first birth, is fantastic.”īut Nneka did not have the same response. And he's so gentle and it's so instinctual,” Less said. “I'm getting to see him be a first-time father, which is amazing. But he adjusted well to the change and is showing interest in the baby’s development, Less said. The baby’s father, Mokolo, hadn’t seen a baby gorilla before, Less said, and much like Nneka, staff weren’t sure how he would respond. “Our hope was that if Nneka decided to not show appropriate maternal care in the situation, we could ask any one of the other four to bring the baby over and then we could supplementally feed the baby.” “They were all trained to pick up the baby, bring the baby over to the mesh at the back of the exhibit for a bottle so we can inspect the baby, and all sorts of behaviors with that stuffed animal,” Less said. So handlers began training certain behaviors among the zoo's five gorillas using a stuffed animal they called “the baby.” The mother, Nneka, had never had to care for a baby before and they weren’t sure how she would respond, Less said. The baby western lowland gorilla was born in late October weighing approximately three pounds, but preparations for innovative ways to care for him started well before that, said Cleveland Zoo Associate Animal Curator Elena Less. For the first time in its 139-year history, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is welcoming a new baby gorilla to the troop.
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