Baby Gorilla Expected at Audubon Zoo for First Time in 24 Years
Bust out the blue and pink streamers. For the first time in 24 years a baby gorilla will make an appearance at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. Zoo officials announced on Monday that the impending blessed event will happen later this summer, between July 15 and August 20. The mother to be is Tumani, a Western Lowland gorilla who is 13 years old. This will be her first offspring, which is doubly exciting since the species is listed as critically endangered.
The new baby will join father Okpara, a 26-year-old silverback, or male gorilla, and two other females, Praline, and Alaifa. Praline was the last baby gorilla born into the zoo, in 1996. The four are known as a troop, and were all brought together as part of the Gorilla Species Survival Plan, which serves 51 zoos across the US to ensure management of the gorilla population. They were part of a year long collaberative effort between the Audubon Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Franklin Park Zoo and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. See more info about the upcoming birth in the video from Audubon Institute below.
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