Fort Worth baby gorilla, Jameela, bonding with surrogate mother in Cleveland
CLEVELAND, Ohio - A baby gorilla born at the Fort Worth Zoo is bonding with her surrogate mother at her new home in Cleveland.
Jameela, a western lowland gorilla, was born via c-section in Fort Worth and was rejected by her mother after her recovery from the birth.
The Fort Worth Zoo made the decision to send Jameela to Cleveland after surrogate efforts failed.
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo says they are seeing great progress and that a gorilla named Frederika is bonding with Jameela.
Frederika is picking up Jameela, putting the baby on her back, setting up nests for her and even letting her nurse.
"We do feel that Jameela is getting quite a bit of nutrition from that. We are continuing to ask Freddy to bring her over for bottles as well and Freddie has been doing a great job of that," said Dr. Elena Less with the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
The small group is still adjusting to life with the baby gorilla.
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The baby boy was born on April 1 to parents Katie and Tebogo.
The zoo says the next phase will be expanding the group to more of the gorillas.