Gorilla Blog: Boston's Baby Gorilla

Last summer we were excited to find out that Kiki, the female gorilla at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, was expecting her third baby. Since moving to the Boston area in 2008 and becoming zoo members, we've gotten to know the family of gorillas at FPZ quite well. Kiki and her mate Kit already have two daughters, 11-year-old Kira and 6-year-old Kimani. Kiki was expected to deliver sometime around Halloween and we anxiously awaited news of the birth so we could visit the zoo soon after to get a glimpse of the newborn. On November 3, Kiki gave birth to her baby and we visited the zoo ten days later. Kiki was kind enough to bring her newborn right over to the window so we could get a good look at it.

Kiki and her baby at 10 days old.

At this point, zookeepers hadn't been able to determine the sex of the newborn. A few weeks later they announced that it's a girl! At this time the zoo announced that a naming contest for the baby would be held. I submitted three names for consideration, all beginning with "K" since all the other names in the family start with that letter. My first pick was "Kigali" which is the capital city of Rwanda and is the name of one of our old gorilla friends from the National Zoo. Now 16, we watched Kigali grow from a rambunctious juvenile to the confident young lady she is today. The second name I suggested was "Kibibi" which means "little lady" in Swahili and is also the name of the youngest member of the family at the National Zoo, born two years ago. However, I knew those two names had a good chance of not being selected since they are already in use at the National Zoo and I have a feeling they don't repeat names. There's always a chance those gorillas could end up living together someday and it would become quite confusing! The last name I suggested was "Karisimbi" which is the highest mountain in the Virunga range in Rwanda. I though "Kari" for short would work...but since the baby has a sister named Kira, it might be too similar. I really didn't expect any of my names to be selected but eagerly awaited the decision.

On February 26, we made our way to the Tropical Forest at FPZ for the big announcement. The gorilla keepers had narrowed the 2,000 suggested names to three: "Kohana", which means "little flower" in Japanese; "Kambiri", which means "Allow me to join this family" in Nigerian; and "Kalliope", the Greek muse of epic poetry. Keepers placed each name on a box and put them next to the main viewing window. Next it was Kiki's job to pick which name she wanted for her daughter. She was the first one to enter the Tropical Forest, and here's what happened.

So the baby was officially named Kambiri! We spent about 45 minutes with the family, as they enjoyed the special decorations and food supplied to them. We can't wait to watch little "Kam" grow up in the upcoming years!