SEATTLE — The newest member of Woodland Park Zoo’s gorilla family was born Jan. 29 to the zoo’s native-born Nadiri.
It is the second child for the Western lowland gorilla, whose first baby, Yola, was born in 2015 when Nadiri was 19 years old.
Nadiri’s newest, who has not yet been named, was 4.9 pounds and “100% adorable,” the zoo said in announcing the birth. Her father is 21-year-old Kwame.
Zoo staff have been feeding the baby because Nadiri did not immediately pick up the baby the zoo said on its blog.
“We will continue to introduce Nadiri to her baby. She is staying close and has picked up her baby for short periods over the weekend, but has not shown any interest in nursing her. By doing short introduction sessions frequently throughout each day, we hope her maternal instinct will soon kick in,” said Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo.
Nadiri, who was born at the Seattle zoo, was rejected at birth by her mother and partially raised by humans. Her plight captured garnered mass media attention.
During Nadiri’s first pregnancy, the zoo was concerned that she would not know how to parent a gorilla as she had not been parented by an ape herself, so staff tried to teach her nurturing skills. But Yola, too, was initially fed and cared for by zoo staff.
Nadiri’s maternal instincts eventually engaged, and Yola was reunited with her mom and the other members of her family.
