Baby gorilla's birth is historic for Detroit Zoo

A special miracle occurred at the Detroit Zoo in the early morning hours of Thursday: Bandia, a 26-year-old gorilla, gave birth to the very first baby gorilla in the zoo’s 96-year history.

The zoo reports that mom and baby are doing very well, along with 36-year-old father, Mshindi.

“Gorillas are born at about four or five pounds,” said Tami Brightrall, associate curator of mammals for the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS). “So they’re pretty small compared to a mom, who weighed about 240 pounds when she had the baby. When they’re born, they are helpless, like a human being; they can’t do much on their own. The mother has to hold them and care for them, and this baby that was born around 2 a.m. is strong, it’s got a good grasp with its hands. It’s moving well, it’s vocalizing (and) making little sounds. It looks really healthy, and Bandia is doing a very good job taking care of it.”

A gorilla’s gestation period is about 260 days, or eight and a half months. Zoo staff noticed Bandia and Mshindi breeding around Thanksgiving, and about six weeks later used a regular, over-the-counter pregnancy test — such as a human might purchase at a drugstore — to determine Bandia was carrying a child.

“Then, with an ultrasound, the veterinarian could see that there was a fetus in there, and it was good and moving around,” said Brightrall. “Bandia has never had a baby before. She is a first-time mom, and she was born in 1997, so she’s neither old nor young … kind of a middle-aged mom. She gets a really good diet, she has excellent vet care, she gets excellent care from the zookeepers. So we just made sure that we did everything normally … we fed her a nutritious diet, we made sure she had plenty of enrichment and things to do. We did her regular veterinary checkups, and all we ever saw were normal and positive signs.

“We never saw any complications.”

What’s in a name?

The new baby joins four gorillas and 12 chimpanzees in the zoo’s four-acre Great Apes of Harambee habitat. The newborn joins the troop with mother Bandia and father Mshindi, along with 20-year-old Tulivu and 11-year-old Nayembi – all of whom arrived at the Detroit Zoo summer 2023. Silverback Mshindi is the sole male.

DZS mammal and primate teams, along with veterinary staff, have been working for months to not only prepare Bandia for motherhood, but to also make sure the rest of the troop was ready for the baby’s arrival.

“Animal care staff actually carried a stuffed gorilla around the habitat while interacting with the troop to properly demonstrate how to carry a baby,” Brightrall said. “Our teams also taught the gorillas how to gently touch the stuffed animal, pick it up off the ground and bring it to a member of the team over at the mesh barrier.”

The baby does not yet have a name, as the gender has not yet been determined.

“You can tell if you get a good look at ‘the goods’ to see,” said Brightrall, “but the mom is so protective, and she holds the baby so close, and they’re both the same color (with) really dark, black fur, so it’s really hard to see. So as soon as we can get a good picture or a really close look when the baby is in a good spot, we’ll know. In the next couple weeks, I would assume.”

When they know whether the troop has welcomed a girl or boy, the process will begin toward selecting a name for it. Mshindi’s name means “winner” in Swahili, according to the zoo, and Bandia stands for “homemade doll or image.”

Brightrall told the Free Press the public might have an opportunity to help select a name for the habitat’s newest denizen.

“We have different ways of naming animals at the zoo,” she said. We have a policy that we follow, and we make sure the names are appropriate and they make sense. And sometimes we have donors choose names. Sometimes we have contests. I don’t know exactly how we’re going to do this yet, but I do know that in preparation, we have chosen a few names that are appropriate, and I think we’ll pick from those.

“I don’t know exactly how the lead development department would want to handle that … but probably a contest.”

What’s next for the baby?

Bandia and her baby will be closely monitored in the coming days and weeks. Animal care staff will carefully watch for maternal and nursing behaviors while tracking milestones such as eye movements, sound recognition and object grasping. The other gorillas will continue to be observed, as well, to see how they behave and react to the addition of the baby to their troop.

“We are always monitoring our animals’ behavior and trying to learn how our animals spend their lives,” said DZS Vice President of Life Sciences Mike Murray. “We have an entire department here that’s dedicated to studying animal wellbeing; alongside our keepers and our curators, we have full-time scientists that are dedicated to studying how animals will spend their lives. So, as this baby grows and matures in this social group, we’re going to be learning every step of the way.

“This is exciting for us. We get to learn from this one, and how this entire group acts as the baby matures. We’re going to be looking at how the mother interacts with other females, how other females interact with this new little one and how the silverback Mshindi acts. It’s going to be really exciting to watch all of them as a group.”

The baby will solely consume breast milk for its first many months, relying on Bandia, who is receiving extra calories to match her body’s demands.

“Eventually, when the baby’s several months or a year old,” said Brightrall, “it’ll start to pick up the little crumbs that mom drops on her belly, little crumbs of leaves and the biscuits that they eat, and fruits and vegetables. That’s how the baby will learn to eat solid food, but that will be in quite some time.

“This is really special, because the Detroit Zoo, since it opened in 1928, has never had a baby gorilla born here. We’re just so grateful that everything is working out, and it’s a privilege for us to be able to see this baby and be a part of its life and watch the family. We’re so excited to watch the baby grow up, and we can’t wait to share it with our guests and have people from all over come and get to share it with us.”

When can visitors see the newborn gorilla?

As with all the animals who call the Detroit Zoo home, Bandia and her baby will soon have the option to come and go as they please throughout the habitat — meaning they can eventually be viewed either inside the great apes building or outside in their spacious yard.

It is important to note, however, that it might be a while before guests are able to actually view the gorillas.

“The time we open the habitat for guests to see the gorillas, including the baby, all depends on Bandia’s behavior and needs, especially as a first-time mom,” said Melissa Thueme, a mammal supervisor for the DZS. “We want to keep things calm and quiet for Bandia, the baby and the rest of the troop to provide them time to settle in, and the area will reopen once the animal care team determines mom and baby have had enough time to bond and become comfortable in their habitat.”

But if Bandia is feeling more comfortable, that time could be much sooner, said Brightrall. She told the Free Press the habitat’s public area would likely be reopened Friday.

“Essentially, it’s a building that guests can go in, and they can look through a window and see them indoors,” she said. “Then, a few days after that — I would say early next week — if everything is going well, we’ll probably allow the gorillas to go outside.

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“The mother will be very protective of it, and care for it and be very vigilant and keep the baby warm, so it’s safe to let the mom do her normal thing. If she wants to go out in the morning and come in at night, we just let her do her thing, and she will make sure that the baby is healthy and safe.”

Murray struggled to contain his enthusiasm for this Detroit Zoo first.

“This gorilla baby means everything to this organization,” he said. “We are an organization dedicated to animal well-being and conservation. We have invested in gorillas for a long time, and we’ve contributed to conservation efforts in Africa and we’ve also contributed to research that elevates the care of gorillas in human care, and this is an experience that all of us are celebrating because it is a culmination of all those efforts.

“We are participants in the Gorilla Species Survival Plan, a group of colleagues that are all accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. They look at the entire population of gorillas in human care within AZA organizations, and they look at the social groups, the dynamics and the population biology … and it’s with a lot of hard work and research and dedication that we are welcoming this baby to Detroit.”

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

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