Nature & Environment
Gorilla Raised by Humans: Adorable Primate Learns to Walk (Video)
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Mar 29, 2013 01:36 PM EDT
An adorable, baby gorilla that's currently being raised by humans is doing well, according to officials at the Cincinnati Zoo where she's currently being kept. The tiny gorilla has already learned to roll over, sit up and nearly walk on all fours.
Named Gladys, the gorilla wasn't always at the Cincinnati Zoo. She was first born in January at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Texas. Unfortunately, her first-time mother showed little maternal instinct. This prompted zookeepers to make the hard decision of taking the baby away from the older gorilla. The Texas zoo eventually decided to send the young primate to Cincinnati due to their extensive experience in raising baby gorillas.
Now, the baby is thriving. She clings to the backs of her surrogate human mothers, who wear black faux fur while handling Gladys. The team even makes gorilla noises while interacting with her in order to make the illusion more realistic.
"I always use a gorilla accent when I talk to Gladys," said Ron Evans, the zoo's primate team leader, in an interview with ABC News.
Already, Gladys has started teething and is beginning to eat some cooked foods such as sweet potatoes and carrots. That supplements the nearly two pounds of formula that she drinks per day. The primate team expects that she should soon be growing by leaps and bounds.
Lowland gorillas are endangered in the wild, living in the dense rainforests of Africa. Highly social, they're usually found in ground communities of up to 30 individuals. Unfortunately, forest loss and hunting have decimated the population currently in the wild; this makes Gladys's survival all the more important.
Currently, the surrogate mothers are working on introducing Gladys to a new gorilla family. They're allowing the gorillas to touch and handle the baby and hope that one of the females will act as her adoptive mom.
"The gorillas have to decide who this baby's mom is going to be," said Evans in an interview with MailOnline.
Gladys should be integrated with her new family in a matter of months as she continues to learn how to walk on her own.
Want to see Gladys for yourself? Check out the video here.
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First Posted: Mar 29, 2013 01:36 PM EDT
An adorable, baby gorilla that's currently being raised by humans is doing well, according to officials at the Cincinnati Zoo where she's currently being kept. The tiny gorilla has already learned to roll over, sit up and nearly walk on all fours.
Named Gladys, the gorilla wasn't always at the Cincinnati Zoo. She was first born in January at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Texas. Unfortunately, her first-time mother showed little maternal instinct. This prompted zookeepers to make the hard decision of taking the baby away from the older gorilla. The Texas zoo eventually decided to send the young primate to Cincinnati due to their extensive experience in raising baby gorillas.
Now, the baby is thriving. She clings to the backs of her surrogate human mothers, who wear black faux fur while handling Gladys. The team even makes gorilla noises while interacting with her in order to make the illusion more realistic.
"I always use a gorilla accent when I talk to Gladys," said Ron Evans, the zoo's primate team leader, in an interview with ABC News.
Already, Gladys has started teething and is beginning to eat some cooked foods such as sweet potatoes and carrots. That supplements the nearly two pounds of formula that she drinks per day. The primate team expects that she should soon be growing by leaps and bounds.
Lowland gorillas are endangered in the wild, living in the dense rainforests of Africa. Highly social, they're usually found in ground communities of up to 30 individuals. Unfortunately, forest loss and hunting have decimated the population currently in the wild; this makes Gladys's survival all the more important.
Currently, the surrogate mothers are working on introducing Gladys to a new gorilla family. They're allowing the gorillas to touch and handle the baby and hope that one of the females will act as her adoptive mom.
"The gorillas have to decide who this baby's mom is going to be," said Evans in an interview with MailOnline.
Gladys should be integrated with her new family in a matter of months as she continues to learn how to walk on her own.
Want to see Gladys for yourself? Check out the video here.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone