Zoo creates online baby shower registry for endangered pregnant gorilla

Gorilla birth will be first to take place at Audobon Zoo in 24 years

A zoo has organised an online baby shower registry for an endangered gorilla who is expecting her first child.

When 13-year-old Tumani gives birth at Audobon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana, the event will mark the first gorilla birth at the zoo in almost two and a half decades.

It will also be the first child for Tumani, who was transferred to Audobon Zoo from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado in 2017.

Tumani is a western lowland gorilla, a subspecies of gorilla deemed critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are approximately 100,000 western lowland gorillas in the world.

In celebration of the upcoming gorilla birth, Audobon Zoo has organised an online baby shower registry so members of the public can get involved by purchasing items for Tumani and her baby.

Items on the registry include a feeder bag, a fleece throw blanket, jumbo blocks and a teether key ring.

On the Audobon Zoo website, on the page for Tumani’s baby shower registry, it states that the zoo is “excited to be a part of this important conservation milestone” as the gorilla prepares to give birth.

“Audubon Zoo’s animal care experts are working with Tumani through daily training and enrichment activities to help prepare her to be a new mom,” it states.

Western lowland gorilla Tumani, 11 August 2020 (Audobon Zoo)

Steve Marshall, vice president and managing director of Audobon Zoo, explained that it costs a great deal of money to feed the animals in its care on a monthly basis.

“Audobon spends more than $70,000 a month to feed more than 15,000 animals in our care,” Mr Marshall said.

“Caring for our animals is a top priority for Audobon. Your support will provide nutritious diets and premium veterinary care to our animals like Tumani to ensure they are as heathy and happy as possible.”

Western lowland gorilla Tumani, 11 August 2020 (Audobon Zoo)

Tumani became pregnant after mating with Okpara, a 27-year-old silverback gorilla who was transferred to the zoo from Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, Massachusetts in 2017.

The baby will be the first that Tumani and Okpara have conceived together.

Western lowland gorilla Tumani, 11 August 2020 (Audubon Zoo)

On the Audobon Zoo website, it explains that the gorillas at the zoo are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan.

The Gorilla Species Survival Plan, the zoo outlines, manages 354 gorillas in around 50 zoos across North America “to ensure a genetically diverse population and the long-term sustainability of the species”.