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Gorilla Raised By Humans Just Became a First-Time Mom ❤️🦍

A 12-year-old gorilla became a mother for the first time after delivering a baby boy at Ohio’s Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday, September 20, the zoo announced on Monday.

Zoo officials said Gladys gave birth to “a healthy baby boy” at 8:32 am Saturday morning after being in labor for more than three hours.

Footage from the zoo shows the mother and infant bonding in a private enclosure.

“Mom and baby are doing well. This is Gladys’ first baby and the 51st gorilla born at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden,” they wrote in a press release. “She has been very attentive to the baby and is doing all the right things. We are so proud of her,” they added.

Gladys arrived at the zoo as an infant in 2013 after being transferred from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Texas “because her mom’s maternal instincts did not kick in,” the zoo wrote. “Gladys needed human surrogates and a potential surrogate gorilla mom. Cincinnati Zoo had both, so that’s why the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) chose Cincinnati to be her home.”

The baby’s father, 23-year-old silverback gorilla Mbeli, was also a first-time parent and was doing “a great job leading the family group,” the zoo said. Mbeli would “remain fairly hands off” with regard to caring for the infant but will “provide protection for Gladys and the baby within their social group,” they said.

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