Baby gorilla on the way at Woodland Park Zoo

There’s more baby animal news for Washington state as a gorilla at Woodland Park Zoo is pregnant.

Nadiri is pregnant with her second baby, who is expected to be born in February or March 2021. Earlier this year, another gorilla at the zoo gave birth to a boy named Kitoko.

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According to the zoo, Nadiri has safely completed the first trimester of her second pregnancy. The gestation period for gorillas is eight to nine months, similar to humans.

Nadiri is already mom to Yola, who will turn 5 years old in November. The new baby sister or brother for Yola will be the first offspring between 24-year-old Nadiri and 20-year-old Kwame. Kwame is also the father of Kitoko, born earlier in 2020 to mom Uzumma.

Zookeepers are preparing for every possible scenario for the birth after the experience with Yola in 2015 when her mom didn’t immediately bond with her. Nadiri, the zoo says, was partially hand-raised as an infant and had no experience being a mom before Yola, having never learned maternal skills. Due to this, Yola spent the first few months of her life under constant care by keepers and veterinarians, as well as daily interactions with Nadiri to help her learn.

Woodland Park says Nadiri’s maternal instincts did kick in and Yola was reunited with her family.

“We believe things will be different when Nadiri gives birth to her second infant,” said Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at the zoo. “Nadiri has gained valuable experience raising Yola. She has become more confident and has turned out to be an excellent mom to her firstborn.”

The family dynamics will also be different for this new baby than for Yola in that Nadiri has been able to watch Uzumma care for young Kitoko.

“Babies truly enhance the lives of gorilla groups and adding another baby to our gorilla family is wonderful news,” Ramirez said. “In no time at all, these babies will be playing with Yola and being mischievous tots together. Babies and juveniles living among adults presents a natural grouping and will be very enriching for the family.”

Gorillas in the wild usually live in groups of 5-10, with a dominant silverback adult male, several adult females, adolescents, juveniles, and babies. Sometimes groups can consist of two to more than 50 family members.

There are two groups of gorillas at Woodland Park Zoo. One includes Kwame, Nadiri, Yola, Uzumma, Kitoko, and Akenji. The second group includes the older gorillas, Vip (Yola’s father) and female Jumoke.

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Nadiri and Kwame were paired under the Gorilla Species Survival Plan, which is a cooperative conservation breeding program across zoos to help ensure a healthy population of the species. The estimated population of western lowland gorillas in the wild is about 300,000.