GROWING UP GORILLA
BABY GORILLAS
Meet Zuna (zoo-nah)!
Our new baby gorilla has a name!
We are happy to announce that the newest member of our gorilla family has a name!
The newborn girl, who will be 6 weeks old on Friday, has been named Zuna (zoo-nah), which means “sweet” in the African language, Lingala (lin-gah-lah). Lingala is a Bantu language spoken in the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo, two of seven countries that the western lowland gorilla lives in.
Zuna is the second baby for mom Nadiri and the first between her and dad, 21-year-old Kwame. Since Zuna was born, the gorilla keepers have been providing round-the-clock care and supplemental bottle feedings of human infant formula.
Read more about the newest member of our western lowland gorilla family:
Q & A with gorilla keeper Stephanie: Get the scoop on caring for Nadiri and her baby Zuna
Oh, how sweet it is! Our new baby gorilla has a name!
The best gift on Nadiri's 25th birthday—the mama gorilla and her baby are bonding
Hello little one! Nadiri gives birth to health baby girl!
Baby watch begins... Gorilla Nadiri is due any day now!
A baby gorilla is on the way: Nadiri is expecting!
TAKE ACTION
Shower Her With Love, Save Gorillas!
To share in the love and joy of this new gorilla baby, we are asking our community to help us throw a virtual baby shower for Nadiri! Help us celebrate and show your love for Nadiri, Kwame and their new baby girl by making a gift of any size and make sure to leave a comment!
The arrival of this new baby is more than just a celebration of a new family member. It also marks a wonderful milestone for Nadiri as a mother. Due to some complications with her own birth, Nadiri was partially human-raised as an infant, which means she didn't get to experience first-hand how to be a gorilla mother herself. Our dedicated gorilla keepers worked with her every day during her first pregnancy five years ago, and during this one—to help her learn good maternal skills.
Thanks to the dedication and expertise of our gorilla keepers—and to you for providing gifts that support all that training—the work has paid off. We're thrilled to see that Nadiri, who initially was hesitant to pick up her newborn, has bonded with the new baby! What started out as short visits between mother and daughter, with staff providing a lot of bottle-feeding and care for the first couple weeks, has now morphed into a beautiful bond where the baby and Nadiri are together full-time. And both of them are thriving!
Thank you for considering a donation in honor of this special birth and our keepers working around the clock to keep the new baby and mom healthy and happy! Every gift adds up to a big difference for the health and well-being of each animal that calls Woodland Park Zoo home.
MAKE A GIFT
Adopt a Gorilla
Celebrate Nadiri's new baby with a symbolic animal adoption in her name!
Adopt now and help fund conservation programs and the daily care and feeding of our gorilla baby, mom Nadiri and all zoo inhabitants
Adopt a Gorilla Today!
ECO-CELL
Recycling cell phones helps save Gorillas!
Woodland Park Zoo is proud to partner with ECO-CELL to recycle e-waste responsibly. In 2018, we collected and recycled 270lbs of electronics donated by visitors like you!
Learn more about ECO-CELL
Gorilla Personality Quiz
Are you more of a Yola or an Akenji?
Take this quiz and we'll tell you which member of Kwame's group matches your personality
Take the quiz
SAVING GORILLAS
A Future for Gorillas
Photo credit Mondika Gorilla Project
Established in 1998, the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project was founded with the aim of preserving wildlife in the Congo Basin by studying the apes, the ecosystems, and the forces that threaten their survival. In 2014, the study area expanded to include the Djeke Triangle region outside the Nouabale-Ndoke National Park – resulting in the Mondika Gorilla Project.
The program is currently monitoring specific aspects of ape coexistence, forest ecology and change, and ape-human health risks. Local communities and indigenous people assist in addressing the opportunity-challenge nexus that factors significantly in the ape-human overlap that typifies ape sites in this region.
Mondika Gorilla Project