Newborn Gorilla

The Buffalo Zoo has a new edition to its family. A baby western lowland gorilla was born Sunday evening.  The mother and father are 18-year-old Sydney and 28-year-old father Koga.

Sydney allowed the zoo keeper staff to use a high tech ultrasound to monitor the baby’s growth. The Zoo said the mother gorilla was trained to ‘present her abdomen to keepers and remain calm during the ultrasound process’. That allowed the monitoring to be conducted without needing to anesthetize the animal.

The Zoo reports that the mother has been using her ‘strong maternal instincts’ by taking care of her newborn. So far, keepers have not be able to get up close to the baby to determine its gender. But both are doing well.

The newest member joins the gorilla troop that includes a big sister Amari, half sister Nyah, and Nyah’s mother, Lily.

The Zoo notes this is a ‘sensitive time’ and more privacy is needed, so visitors might not always see the gorillas during a visit.

The Zoo said Western lowland gorillas are ‘critically endangered’. They are found in the lowland tropical forests of central Africa.