Birth mother, surrogate mother reject baby gorilla born at Fort Worth Zoo

A gorilla born in a North Texas zoo is having trouble finding a home within her troop.

The gorilla, Jameela, was born prematurely via a cesarean section earlier this year. The Fort Worth Zoo announced the birth in February.

The baby was delivered by one of the zoo's female gorillas, Sekani, who was pregnant with her first offspring. After experiencing symptoms, she was diagnosed with preeclampsia and doctors confirmed she needed an emergency C-section for her and her baby to survive. This was the first baby gorilla born via C-section in the zoo's 115-year history.

Efforts to reunite Jameela with Sekani failed as the mother showed "little interest" in the baby, the zoo said.

In February, the zoo tried to train another gorilla, Gracie, to become the surrogate mother of Jameela. On Tuesday, the zoo announced those efforts also failed.

Now, the zoo is making attempts to train yet another female gorilla, Fred, to look after Jameela. The zoo said Fred doesn't have any offspring of her own but that she showed "some interest" in Jameela.

We have been following Gracie’s lead, and our surrogacy training with her has slowed and unfortunately, the progress we were needing to see has not been observed. pic.twitter.com/3z6zsjYS1n

— Fort Worth Zoo (@FortWorthZoo) March 5, 2024

In a post on X, the zoo said "Our goal is – and always has been – to make sure Jameela is raised by gorillas. While we work with Fred over the next week, we are also consulting with our national partners about the best next steps. In the meantime, Jameela is healthy, strong and growing like a weed!"

Photos: Gorilla born premature at Fort Worth Zoo