Baby gorilla Jameela born at Fort Worth Zoo is thriving in new home
Two years after moving to a new home, the first baby gorilla born by Cesarean section at the Fort Worth Zoo is thriving, her former keepers say.
On May 13, several members of the team who helped care for Jameela after her premature birth got their first glimpse of the young primate with her surrogate mother at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Dr. Jamie Walker Erwin, the OB-GYN who delivered the infant gorilla, was also part of the group.
Primary gorilla keeper Angie Holmes said Jameela was a little shy, but not afraid of her or the other visitors.
Photos show Jameela climbing on the wire enclosure, accepting a bit of food through one of the openings and riding on the back of her new mother.
“She looks just fantastic,” Holmes said.
Jameela was born by emergency C-section in January 2024 after her mother, Sekani, began showing symptoms of preeclampsia. Sekani recovered after the birth, but never showed any interest in caring for the infant.
Zoo staff, including Holmes and primate supervisor Linda Roberts, worked around the clock to fill the gap. They bottle-fed the newborn and wore felt ponchos with long fringes to simulate gorilla hair.
Roberts said they tried hard to keep Jameela in Fort Worth, but there was never any doubt she needed to be raised by a gorilla. Baby gorillas learn about the world and the social dynamics of their family group, known as a troop, through their mother. A gorilla raised entirely by humans might struggle to integrate into a troop later in life.
When two attempts to find a surrogate mother for Jameela failed, staff made the difficult decision to send her to another zoo. The two-and-a-half-month old infant moved to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in March 2024 and successfully bonded with Fredrika, also known as Freddy, the oldest member of the western lowland gorilla troop. Freddy had already raised four offspring of her own and adopted a fifth after his mother failed to care for him.
Holmes and Roberts have eagerly followed the little gorilla’s progress in Cleveland. They planned a trip to see her for Holmes’ birthday, but it fell through last minute when their flight was canceled. On May 13, Holmes, who still gets emotional when she talks about Jameela, had a hard time walking up to the exhibit.
“I knew how powerful it would be to see her with a gorilla,” she said.
Jameela is the eighth and youngest member of the Cleveland zoo’s gorilla group. Holmes and Roberts said it was a dream come true to see her in a family unit, complete with an older brother — Kayembe — who likes to annoy her.
The 2-year-old Jameela loves to climb and explore her environment. “She has a little sass too,” according to Holmes, and has developed a reputation for getting into mischief.
Roberts described feeding Jameela with a bottle through the enclosure. At one point, the little gorilla reached out and grabbed Roberts’ finger.
“She’s not afraid of people,” Roberts said.
While memory in animals works differently than in humans, Holmes said she’d like to think Jameela remembers the love and care the Fort Worth keepers showered on her as a newborn.
“We’re proud to say she’s from Texas,” Holmes said. “Proud to say she’s from Fort Worth.”
