Kamba2

Little Gorilla
As Kamba grows, zoo guests will be able to follow her development. She has been growing fast, already weighing 10 to 12 pounds, and developing thicker hair and a white tail tuft. She still has a spidery look, with long, skinny limbs that hang all over the place. But in the next six months, she will begin to fill out and develop a more toned and muscular physique. She will stay close to her mother for the first two years and may nurse until she is five years old. But keepers can already see a bit of an independent streak developing. She has begun mouthing bits of solid food that she grabs from Koola and can be seen climbing alone behind the scenes. All and all, she is a normal baby gorilla---which is what keepers want to see.

Troop Dynamics Contribute to Conservation
Kamba might not be the smallest member of the troop for long. Her grandmother Binti is expecting and could have a baby in April. These births are having an effect on the rest of the troop. With the loss of Babs, who was the group’s dominant female, and their growing family line, Koola and Binti Jua are becoming leading members of the gorilla troop. That prominence is passed on to the female offspring, which gives Kamba a better chance of being the leading female of the troop someday.

In the meantime, vets and keepers have worked ultrasound into Binti’s training program, and they get a look at the baby inside her twice a week. Since she went through maternal training when she had Koola, Binti knows how to be a mom. No new training is necessary, and keepers expect her to be a great mother the second time around. In preparation, she gets a special maternal vitamin called Materna (a human prenatal vitamin supplement) daily. It has a higher folic acid content to help the baby gorilla develop.

Any birth of a western lowland gorilla is important because the species is endangered, but Binti Jua’s baby and Kamba are especially important because of their father. Ramar is a wild-born gorilla. He came to Brookfield Zoo in 1998 from North Carolina Zoo---where he was the star attraction for more than 20 years---in the hopes that he would become a father and be represented in the gene pool. Even though he was one of the most well known animals at North Carolina Zoo, officials there agreed that Ramar’s transfer to Brookfield Zoo would benefit the entire zoo gorilla population. He responded to his new situation by fathering Nadaya and Kamba. But he is still underrepresented in the gene pool.

“We are very fortunate to have Ramar at Brookfield Zoo. His transfer illustrates the cooperative effort and commitment among American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) zoos working with gorillas,” said Melinda Pruett-Jones, curator of primates at Brookfield Zoo.

Western lowland gorillas are listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), a global intergovernmental network that tracks the status of the planet’s most endangered plants and animals. Gorilla populations in the wild are threatened chiefly by the bushmeat trade and shrinking habitats. Sadly, gorillas are being hunted for meat, as logging and agriculture efforts extend into Africa’s forests. The western lowland gorilla’s wild population is estimated at 80-90,000 individuals in the wild, which may seem like many animals but truly is not.

Western lowland gorillas are part of a Species Survival Plan (SSP), which is a cooperative breeding effort among North American zoos to ensure a healthy zoo population. SSP programs exist for a wide variety of animals, many of which are highly endangered. Ramar came to Brookfield Zoo as part of the SSP program, because of the zoo’s proven record of quality care and successful breeding.

Nadaya and Kamba add a lot of excitement to Tropic World---but more importantly, they add new hope for and diversity to the entire zoo gorilla population, helping to ensure generations to come.