It’s a boy! Sunday evening the Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed a baby gorilla.
The baby’s name, Moke, means “junior” or “little one” in Lingala, the zoo said. His name is pronounced mo-KEY.
Her mother, Calaya, is a familiar name to Washington. She grew up at the Woodland Park Zoo and left in 2015 to find love. The life-long Seattleite was matched with a partner before making the move to Washington D.C.
Calaya, now 15-years-old, is a western lowland gorilla residing at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Calaya coupled up with Baraka, a 26-year-old silverback, as soon as she arrived. She was on birth control pills when she first arrived at the zoo three years ago, according to the Washington Post. The zoo took her off the pills once they could determine she was in good health.
She became pregnant last August. The zoo confirmed her pregnancy using "common human pregnancy test". Staff at the zoo trained Calaya to voluntarily participate in ultrasounds.
