Endangered gorilla in New Orleans zoo expecting first baby, being trained with doll

One of critically endangered gorillas in New Orleans’ zoo is expecting her first baby, and already is being trained with a “doll” to hold her future offspring. Thirteen-year-old Tumani’s training “doll” doesn’t look anything like a gorilla because a stuffed toy could easily be torn apart, Audubon Zoo’s chief veterinarian, Dr Robert McLean, said Monday. Instead, a rugged section of canvas firehose tubing has been woven roughly to proportions and weight of a 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) newborn gorilla.

“I haven’t seen it myself, McLean said. ”Apparently it’s pretty ugly but it does job.”

Tumani, far Okpara, and females Alafia and Praline are western lowland gorillas. Although re were an estimated 362,000 in wild in 2016, ir numbers were falling about 2.7% a year, making m critically endangered, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature. At that rate, ir numbers could plummet more than 80% by 2082. Habitat loss, disease — including Ebola virus — and illegal hunting for meat are among reasons ir population is falling so fast. About 350 of gorillas are in facilities accredited by Association of Zoos and Aquariums. last gorilla born at Audubon Zoo was Praline, w 24.

Tumani’s pregnancy “is a huge deal and we want to share that news with public. It seems to be going well,” McLean said.

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Tumani's due date

due date is anywhere between mid-July and Aug. 20, based on her mating with Okpara, a 26-year-old silverback who came to New Orleans in 2017 from Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Veterinarians don’t kw baby’s sex. 160-pound (72-kilogram) expectant mor is receiving twice monthly ultrasounds and has undergone training on how to pick up doll, including how to hold it to her chest where a baby gorilla could nurse.

“We don’t want baby by itself. We want it with mor at all times,” McLean explained. “If baby’s on ground, we want to be able to say, ’Hey, pick it up.”

She also has been taught t to play with a baby bottle and its foot-long (30-centimetre) flexible hose leading to nipple, which could be used if Tumani has a problem lactating or nursing. Alafia, who has successfully raised a baby, also has been trained to do all same things just in case she has to step in as infant’s foster mor.

McLean said both Alafia’s experience at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo and fact that Tumani saw younger brors and sisters raised at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she lived until 2017, are in favour of successful morhood.

“But we still don’t kw how y’ll respond,” he said.

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