Baby Abeo debuting to the public

Post by Gigi Allianic, Communication

Woodland Park Zoo is very fond of sharing the heart-warming news about Baby Boy Gorilla Abeo (AH-Bay-Oh), who was born in the Zoo in June. To ensure his long-term benefits of growing like a gorilla, the zoo made a critical decision and moved him last month to Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, where he could be socialized with a fetus Gorilla mother and multi-generational family of gorillas.

Abeo with Kewli, Photo by Kyle Shepherd/Louisville Zoo

Today, Abeo and his foster mother, Kweli (Kway-Lee) debuted their public debut at Louisville Zoo’s award-winning Gorilla Forest. Kweli, 40 years old, was chosen because of her successful experience in promoting Kindi, Louisville Zoo’s now 8-year-old female gorilla, who became an orphan shortly after birth.

Abeo was born June 28 at Woodland Park Zoo to Akenji, a first time mother and father Kwame. Because Akenji had shown no interest in caring for her newborn, Abeo was placed under care around the clock; Furthermore, progress was not fast enough to introduce him to a foster mother at the zoo, so for his well -being, Abeo was moved to a new home.

Abeo with Kewli, Photo with permission from Louisville Zoo

“Kweli has been an exemplary foster mother, first with Kindi and now with Abeo,” said Louisville Zoo director Dan Maloney. “We are incredibly proud of Kweli’s care and her attention. As our visitors, we look forward to seeing Abeo grow and thrive with the family’s troop at Gorilla Forest.”

“All of us in Woodland Park Zoo celebrate that Baby Abeo is now in the arms of Gorilla Kweli. That’s how it should be for a baby gorilla – in the direct care of a gorilla and socialized with a family of gorillas,” said Woodland Park Zoo Interim Senior Director of Animal Care Martin Ramirez. “Our Zoo family is so grateful to Louisville Zoo and their dedicated gorilla experts. All the way from the Northwest Pacific, we and our society will continue to enjoy watching monkey grow to be a confident and safe gorilla.”

For more than a month, Louisville Zoo’s Gorilla Forest team has delivered around the clock around the care of monkey, including feeding and socializing him using vocal and behavioral signals similar to those of a gorilla mother. After meeting the most important milestones, including responding to behavioral signals and navigating the habitat, Abeo was introduced to Kweli through closely monitored gluing.

Over the coming weeks, Abeo and Kweli will be integrated with the rest of the Gorilla trop, which includes Silverback Casey (42 years old) and adult females Paki (35 years old) and Patty (11 years old) and the woman in the sub-adult (8 years old). The group rotates on exhibition with Bachelor Gorillas Bengati, Jelani, Cecil and Kicho.