Abandoned By Her Mother And Raised By Humans, Baby Gorilla Is Ready To Join Her Own Kind
Humans have reportedly taught her how to be a gorilla!
By Sadho Ram — 27 Dec 2014, 01:13 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
A baby gorilla raised by human keepers wearing hairy vests is ready to be placed with other gorillas and will move to the Columbus Zoo, the Cincinnati Zoo said on 26 December 2014
Kamina is about to graduate to being a gorilla, which is certainly peculiar because she was born a gorilla. This type of thing seems to only happen at the Cincinnati Zoo.
cincinnati.com
For the past three months, 17 humans have been holding Kamina around the clock, teaching her how to be a gorilla
Kamina, a young, female Western lowland gorilla, was born in August at the zoo in Oklahoma City but was shunned by her mother, so she was sent to Cincinnati in September. The human surrogates taught her to act like a gorilla and then placed her with two female gorillas.
When they didn't bond with her, keepers decided Kamina's best option was moving to Columbus.
They have worked overnight shifts and early mornings, they have worn hairy vests to give Kamina something to cling too. They have bottle-fed her and crawled on their hands and knees so Kamina could practice abdominal and back riding. They have used low grunting sounds to soothe Kamina and coughing sounds to discourage behaviors.
This is called "gorillafication" and it is working, Kamina will soon be placed with real gorillas, and hopefully never look back.
cincinnati.com
The Cincinnati Zoo's curator of primates says the rejection was surprising but such introductions are delicate and don't always work out, the Associated Press reported
Jackie Newson, a Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden employee and surrogate, cares for Kamina
Image via gannett-cdn.com"Kamina has learned all of the behaviors she needs to know in order to be successful in a gorilla group," Ron Evans, primates curator, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, neither of the adult females that we hoped would bond with her did."
ap.org
While officials are working out details of her transfer to the Columbus Zoo, which has previous experience with surrogacy placements, the one thing all the volunteers, nearly all of whom are zoo workers, want people to know is that this is not fun. This is not for enjoyment, this is to save Kamina and to help a species.
Jackie Newson, a Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden employee and surrogate, cares for Kamina, a 10-pound Western-lowland gorilla.
Image via gannett-cdn.comThis is, repeat, not for fun. Not one little bit. It would all be much more believable if they could just stop smiling for a minute.
"This is an amazing experience, to help Kamina and gorillas," said Erin Hudepohl, who did most of the overnight shifts. "What it is, is a privilege."
cincinnati.com
Kamina, a Western lowland gorilla, was born at the Oklahoma City Zoo on Aug. 16. Her mother, clearly a bit of shrew for a gorilla, rejected her immediately. She turned her back and walked away. This put Kamina in grave danger. Gorilla babies are just like human babies – they need nurturing and food right away or they will die.
The staff in Oklahoma jumped in but they had a major problem: There was not female gorilla who was a good candidate to "adopt" Kamina. Fortunately, Cincinnati did have some good eligible females and they had experience.
nytimes.com
Kamina was taken out of her mother's care when the female gorilla showed no maternal instincts, putting her baby's life in danger. Here she is holding the arm of one of her 17 human surrogates.
