Fort Worth Zoo
Jameela, the headline making baby gorilla who was born by cesarean for the first time in the Fort Worth Zoo’s history will be transferred to the east coast, according to a social media post pushed out by the Zoo on Friday.
Her move to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo next week is part of an effort to keep the now two-and-a-half-month-old baby gorilla with her species after several failed attempts to have her bond with her mother and the other female gorillas at the Zoo.
“While we hoped for a different outcome – one that includes Jameela fully integrated into our troop – our main goal has always been that Jameela is raised by gorillas,” the Zoo posted on Instagram.
Since her birth on Jan. 5, Jameela, which means beautiful in Swahili, has been monitored by zoo staff around the clock. However, this made for a poor substitute given the Zoo’s hope that she would be raised by her own kind.
Jameela is a western lowland gorilla, who are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to hunting and disease. Another fact that makes Jameela’s birth significant is the alarmingly low reproductive rate for gorillas — which is at an observed rate of 3% population increase. So, even if there were a drastic decline in hunting and disease, it could take at least 75 years for population recovery to occur in optimistic scenarios, zoo officials say.
Fort Worth Zoo
This metric compiled with the fact that neither Jameela’s mother nor father, Elmo, a silverback gorilla, failed to bond with her, added to an already dire scenario not for just Jameela but for her species as a whole. This was the catalyst that led Zoo officials to reach out to several of their national partners for weeks to find an institution that could meet Jameela’s needs and had a female gorilla with proven surrogate experience.
After it was all said and done, Zoo officials decided on the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, who already have one successful surrogacy story on the books. Much like Jameela’s situation, the east coast zoo witnessed baby Kayembe’s parents fail to create a bond with the infant after he was born. However, zoo staff were able to successfully integrate Kayembe with a surrogate mother, Fredrika, who essentially adopted the baby.
“We have been in close contact with Fort Worth Zoo and following Jameela’s journey,” Cleveland Metroparks Zoo executive director Chris Kuhar told Cleveland’s Fox 8. “We’re thankful for the partnership with Fort Worth Zoo and the tremendous work by their team. As AZA (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 SSP (Species Survival Plan), are hopeful that Jameela will quickly bond and thrive with our troop.”
This bittersweet scenario is one that local zoo officials knew had to happen to give Jameela the best possible chance for a successful upbringing. But that doesn’t mean it was easy to say good-bye.
“We are understandably heartbroken — Jameela has left an indelible mark on all of us here at the Zoo and in the Fort Worth community,” A Fort Worth Zoo official wrote. “She will always be a part of the Fort Worth Zoo and, once she is grown and her father is not the silverback, we hope to see her back in Fort Worth one day.”
Zoo officials estimate Jameela’s departure will take place next week, but have also extended an invitation for the public to see her over the weekend.
“Before she leaves, we would like to offer you a chance to see her and send your well wishes; she will be spending time with her caretakers in the indoor gorilla habitat in the World of Primates this Saturday and Sunday (March 23 and 24), from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 5 p.m."
Editor's Note: Fort Worth Inc. editor John Henry helped contribute to this article
