Fort Worth Zoo prepares to say goodbye to baby gorilla moving to new home next week

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The baby gorilla slowly pulls herself along on the straw-covered mat in a back yard at the Fort Worth Zoo. She holds her head upright as she explores the area, her little fists grasping handfuls of straw as she tries to decide which direction to go. Gorilla keeper Angie Holmes kneels close by, watching her progress.

Jameela, the first baby gorilla born by Cesarean section at the Fort Worth Zoo, has been under the constant care of Holmes and a multitude of other zoo staff since day one. They’ve seen her grow from just 3 pounds to the active infant she is today.

After Jameela’s birth mother, Sekani, failed to show any interest in caring for her baby, the zoo staff made two attempts to find a surrogate mother among the other females in the gorilla troop. Unfortunately, the attempts were unsuccessful, and the staff has made the difficult decision to send the two-and-a-half-month-old gorilla elsewhere.

Jameela will be leaving Fort Worth for the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, a place with previous surrogacy success, next week.

“It’s hard, but it’s going to be good for her,” Holmes said. “And it’ll be nice to see her flourish and know that at least this part of her life, we had something, and we’ve set her on that path to be able to be successful.”

Surrogacy journey

Holmes said there are a variety of factors that may have kept Sekani, and then Gracie and Winifred, from caring for Jameela.

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Sekani began showing symptoms of preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication that affects both humans and primates, in early January. Jameela was born several weeks premature via emergency C-section on Jan. 5. Some of the hormonal cues that would’ve prompted Sekani to care for her infant if she’d been born naturally and full-term may have been missing, according to Holmes.

Gracie, the first potential surrogate and mother of 1-year-old Bruno and 8-year-old Gus, did great during surrogacy training, Holmes said. But when it came time to engage with Jameela, she chose not to, possibly because Bruno still needs so much attention.

“To actually take (Jameela) on and pick her up, she just did not have that drive,” Holmes said. “I can’t make her want to. We prepared her, but we couldn’t make her want to.”

Winifred, the second surrogate option, doesn’t have offspring of her own but sometimes helps take care of Bruno and Gus. Zoo staff were hopeful she would take an interest in Jameela, but she behaved much the same way as Gracie.

“We can only speculate,” Holmes said. “But what we know is what we didn’t see, ... a gorilla female that was willing to take on what would be a very difficult task. And they intimated to us that they were not going to be able to do that for us. And we just had to take that and do what we need to do.”

Mother gorillas form strong bonds with their offspring, according to Holmes. For the first few months, the mother carries the baby almost constantly, either beside her or on her back.

Jameela’s caretakers have done their best to mimic these behaviors. They wear felt ponchos with long fringes for Jameela to grasp, and they hold her at their side or on their back. Holmes said sometimes she makes the low, rumbling sound a mother gorilla would make to comfort Jameela and get her used to gorilla noises.

John Griffioen, the zoo’s assistant director of animal programs and conservation, said there’s a complex social dynamic gorillas would miss out on if raised by humans. They want to give Jameela every chance possible of being brought up by a gorilla mother.

“You think about how people communicate with each other,” Griffioen said. “There’s a lot more than just speaking, right? Like reading your face and reading your body language. We can only do so much of that to mimic a gorilla, and these are the formative years.”

The staff has kept in touch with the zoo’s accrediting agency, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, throughout the process with Jameela. It was these partners who helped them find Jameela’s new home.

“I don’t think it’s something else we could have done here,” Griffioen said. “We’ve done everything we can. And it’s been amazing to watch.”

Next steps

According to Griffioen, more than 50 people have been involved in Jameela’s care. The nutrition department watches her formula intake — the same formula used for premature human babies — to make sure it’s meeting her needs. The veterinary team gives her weekly checkups. Holmes and others on the mammal staff take turns feeding and holding the infant around the clock.

Griffioen said the surrogacy journey and interacting with Jameela has given the staff valuable information they can use to help other facilities.

“It’s a really hard situation that she’s leaving,” Griffioen said. “But we have all learned so much and I think ... it’s highlighted how amazing the whole team is, and what we can do when we all work together.”

Stephanie Crowson, the associate mammal curator, said seeing the different personalities and interests of the gorillas come out as they were introduced to Jameela was fascinating for her to watch. She’s also been overwhelmed by the support from the Fort Worth community.

“Regardless of where she may end up long term in her life, she’s going to have basically lifetime followers, like they’re going to be interested in her care,” Crowson said. “And we hope, really, that it opens people up, to ... what zoos do, you know — conservation.”

Holmes said Jameela is never far from her thoughts, even when she’s off duty. She’s had people at the grocery store see her Fort Worth Zoo uniform and ask her about Jameela.

“She’s going to be, I think part of the fabric of who I am as not only a zookeeper gorilla keeper person, she’s going to be part of who I am in this experience forever,” Holmes said.