Gorilla mom doesn’t show interest in her baby, so ‘disappointed’ WA zoo steps in
.png "A gorilla baby born June 28 at Woodland Park Zoo in Washington has been rejected by his mother.")
First-time mom Akenji, a gorilla at the Woodland Park Zoo in Washington, gave birth to a healthy baby boy on June 28.
The infant is the 16th gorilla born at the Seattle zoo, an exciting addition for staff who had closely watched Akenji’s pregnancy.
But excitement changed to concern shortly after the birth. There was something unusual going on with Akenji. The new mother wasn’t showing interest in her baby the way most gorilla moms do in the moments following delivery.
“Within an hour after delivery, the animal care team intervened for the baby’s safety and well-being,” the zoo said in a July 1 news release.
Things did not get better. Days passed. Akenji’s indifference endured.
“Although we have been encouraging maternal behaviors, Akenji still hasn’t shown any promising signs of interest to bond with her baby,” said Rachel Vass, interim animal care manager.
The weekend following the baby’s arrival, staff remained at his side, caring for him “round-the-clock.” They bottle-fed him with human infant formula and made sure he was warm. They kept him within close proximity of Akenji so that she could see, hear and smell him.
“Because [Akenji] demonstrated capable maternal behaviors throughout her training program, we’re disappointed and a little surprised those instincts haven’t kicked in,” Vass said.
This is not the first time a gorilla mom has rejected her baby at the Woodland Park Zoo, or at other zoos for that matter. Because of this, “hand-rearing” – putting an animal baby in human care – became common at zoos in the 1950s. However, the practice recently fell under scrutiny due to the animals’ subsequent difficulty reintegrating with their own species.
As an alternative, some zoos look for a “surrogate” mother for the rejected infant. According to Woodland Park Zoo, this is also on the table.
“We have a professional, highly dedicated team of gorilla experts at Woodland Park Zoo who have more than eight decades of collective experience caring for and breeding gorillas, preparing expectant moms for motherhood, and uniting moms and infants or introducing other gorillas to step in as moms,” said Martin Ramirez, senior interim animal care director. “The present situation calls for us to exercise patience and be methodical as we move forward with this new member of our gorilla family.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2024 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Gorilla mom doesn’t show interest in her baby, so ‘disappointed’ WA zoo steps in."