Como Park Zoo welcomes its first homegrown baby gorilla
It's a boy! Sort of.
Como Park Zoo on Wednesday announced the birth of a baby male gorilla born in the wee hours inside the Gorilla Forest exhibit day room.
It's the first baby gorilla born at the zoo in the 55 years that it's cared for gorillas.
Weighing about four pounds at birth, the baby appears healthy, strong and bonding with Alice, its mother, the zoo said in a statement.
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The zoo last month announced that two of its gorillas, Dara and Alice, were pregnant. Both were kept in the same enclosure with Schroeder, a 29-year-old male gorilla. Nature took its course, and the zoo confirmed the pregnancies with human pregnancy tests. A gorilla gestation is approximately eight months.
• Oct. 7: Two pregnant gorillas astonish Como Zoo officials
• Photos: Como Zoo's Gorilla Forest exhibit
That both females became pregnant at about the same time amazed zookeepers.
"Gorillas are very family oriented," Senior Zookeeper Jo Kelly said in a statement Wednesday. "Mom will let other family members see the baby and they will take their cues from mom as to how close they can be."
When the baby is older, and able to move around on its own, other family members, including dad, will play with the baby, the zoo said.
No word yet on a name.
Como Park Zoo released this video of Alice and the new gorilla baby: