Cleveland Zoo to foster baby gorilla, hoping for bond

CLEVELAND (WJW) — Big news for the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo: A baby gorilla who had a historic birth in Texas will be coming to Cleveland. The zoo will foster the 11-week-old in the hope that one of its female gorillas will bond with her.

Baby Jameela is now a happy and healthy 8-pound infant gorilla. She is a western lowland gorilla who has been raised by the staff in Fort Worth with around-the-clock care since her birth. But the goal is to have her raised by gorillas.

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Jameela’s birth in January made international headlines after life-threatening complications threatened her mother. They had an emergency cesarean, the first in Fort Worth Zoo’s history. Unfortunately, the mother and the other female gorillas at the zoo did not show maternal behaviors that would lead to a successful bond with Jameela.

So she is now coming to the Cleveland Zoo, which is a leader in gorilla research and care.

“We are here 24/7 so we can do whatever we can for this baby,” said Cleveland zoo Animal Curator Elena Less.

Over the years, the zoo’s gorilla troop has shown the ability to foster a fellow gorilla in need. In fact, they’ve been trained for this.

“It’s working on having gorillas bring a stuffed animal baby over to receive a bottle if they were ti need to. It’s just allowing us to have access so that the gorilla can be in the group — but also we can have access to make sure they are getting food,” explained Less.

The zoo already has one success story of this: Baby Kayembe.

In 2021, Kayembe’s parents did not bond with him. But another gorilla, Fredrika, stepped in and essentially adopted the baby.

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“We have been in close contact with Fort Worth Zoo and following Jameela’s journey,” said Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Executive Director Chris Kuhar. “We’re thankful for the partnership with Fort Worth Zoo and the tremendous work by their team. As [Association of Zoos and Aquariums]-accredited organizations, we have the ability to leverage strong collaborations like this to ensure the best positive wellbeing for the animals in our care. Together our zoos, along with the entire Gorilla [Species Survival Plan], are hopeful that Jameela will quickly bond and thrive with our troop.”

Jameela is expected to arrive in Cleveland next week. Zoo officials said they will frequently update how she is doing on the Cleveland Metroparks social media pages.

“I do feel very confident that our team and the Fort Worth team will be able to read gorilla behavior and do our best for Jameela,” said Less.

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