CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has announced the name of its newest baby gorilla.
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The zoo shared on social media that the baby gorilla that was born to first-time mom Gladys on September 20 will be named Mboka Jo.
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The name was chosen by the primate team at the zoo.
Mboka means community/village in Lingala, which is one of the languages spoken in the region where western lowland gorillas live, according to the zoo.
“This is a nod to all the people who came together to help Gladys when she was a baby, supported her when she had a broken arm last year, and throughout her pregnancy,” the zoo said in the post.
Gladys came to the Cincinnati Zoo from the Gladys Porter Zoo when she was a baby because her mom’s maternal instincts did not kick in, according to the zoo. She required human surrogates and eventually a surrogate gorilla mom.
The zoo shared that despite being a first-time mom, Gladys is doing great with her baby!
The primate team added the middle name “Jo” to honor Gladys’ foster father & silverback, Jomo.
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