A critically endangered gorilla at a New Orleans zoo is expecting her very first baby, and staff have already begun using a training "doll" to prepare the primate for motherhood.
According to a press release from the Audubon Zoo, the 13-year-old western lowland gorilla named Tumani is due to give birth anywhere between mid-July and August 20.
It's been 24 years since the last gorilla, named Praline, was born at the zoo. As such, zoo officials are understandably pleased with the news of Tumani's pregnancy.
"[It] is a huge deal and we want to share that news with the public," Dr. Robert McLean, the Audubon Zoo’s chief veterinarian, told City News. "It seems to be going well."
She has been given a training "doll," made of canvas fire hose tubing. While it doesn't necessarily look like a gorilla, it's really only meant to mimic the four-pound weight of a baby gorilla.
Tumani is being taught how to pick up the "baby" and hold it to her chest for nursing. She's also been taught not to play with a baby bottle with a foot-long hose attached to it, which will be used in the event that she has issues with lactation or nursing.
Fellow western lowland gorilla and alpha female, Alafia, who's previously raised a baby herself, has had her mothering skills brushed up on in the event she has to step in as Tumani's baby's foster mother.
Tumani witnessed her own younger siblings being raised at her previous facility, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, which would have given her an idea of what motherhood entails. However, officials are still taking every precaution necessary.
"[We] still don’t know how they’ll respond,” Dr. McLean said.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the species is classified as critically endangered, and over the last 20 to 25 years, it is estimated that more than 60% of the western lowland gorilla population was lost to poaching and disease, including the Ebola virus.
h/t: City News, Photos: Facebook | Audubon Zoo
