(COLORADO SPRINGS) — There is something extra special happening in Colorado Springs this Mother’s Day at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, one of their gorillas is expecting! It’s the zoo’s first gorilla pregnancy in nearly thirteen years, and the big arrival is just around the corner.
Asha is thirty-two years old and currently six to eight months pregnant. She’s a critically endangered Western lowland Gorilla, and the zoo decided to announce her pregnancy on Sunday as a way to celebrate mothers.
“We found out she was pregnant in December of 2024, for a couple of days before Christmas. So, it is a great Christmas present to all of us,” said Ashton Asbury, an animal keeper at the zoo.
It’s Asha’s third infant, and zookeepers say they are expecting the new baby gorilla sometime between June and July. Asha was born at the CMZoo on October 5, 1992. It’s also where she gave birth to her other two babies, who have moved on to other troops. Twelve-year-old male, Dembe, who now lives at the North Carolina Zoo, and eighteen-year-old female, Tumani, who lives at Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.
“She has a very round belly, so we have to get it pretty much really up under there and we’re able to see the baby; we have to use a fairly large amount of gel because she has quite a bit of hair as a gorilla does,” said Asbury.
Just like any other expecting mom, she has to have ultrasounds frequently. Zookeepers say that during one ultrasound, they even saw the baby doing little flips inside Asha’s tummy. Animal keepers say the ultrasound gel is often off-putting for animals, even if they warm it up. Amials typically don’t like the texture, but Asha doesn’t seem to mind it. She participates in a thirty-minute ultrasound session and is free to leave the session at any time she wants. She offers her belly to keepers in a more “theatrical” way, too.
“She hikes one leg really high up on the mesh sand on one and puts her hands up, so keepers are actually able to put a probe up to her belly,” said Asbury.
Asha has even been experiencing cravings, and for her, it’s onions.
“Some days we see that she’s just not as interested in the onion, and then other days we see that that’s all she wants to eat. So, it seems like pregnancy cravings are certainly a thing for gorillas as well,” said Asbury.
Zookeepers say the reason they waited to make the announcement to ensure both mom and the baby are healthy.
“We wanted to see how the pregnancy was progressing, as we’ve been getting ultrasounds, and we’ve been feeling really confident. So, we wanted to share with the public.
Goma is going to be a first-time dad; he was first introduced to Asha in 2016. Zookeepers have been hard at work to encourage the two to reproduce, and after nine years, they finally have.
“Asha’s last kids were with a different silverback, but then after he passed, Goma came to our zoo on a breeding recommendation with Asha in the hopes of having this baby,” said Asbury.
When Goma was what keepers call a “bachelor troop,” meaning he had never lived with females before. Asha’s previous experience as a mother has helped Goma learn, and they have helped her care team provide prenatal check-ups throughout her pregnancy.
“Just like humans, they’ll live with other males up until they get a family of their own. So, Goma came to us from a bachelor troop with his brother, and when he came here, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with the females. So, a lot of keepers worked really hard to teach Goma the skills that he would need to be a successful silverback in the troop,” said Asbury.
Asha’s motherly love doesn’t just stop with her infants.
“We’ve also found that Asha is pretty interested in human babies. So, one of our keepers is about to come back from maternity leave, and she actually brought her baby here the other day at the zoo, and Asha was super interested. She had her bring the baby u,p and Asha was looking in the stroller. So, Asha is pretty interactive in that way and is always interested in what people are up to, whether she looks like it or not,” said Asbury.
Gorilla gestation typically lasts eight-and-a-half months. As long as Asha and the baby continue to do well, guests can visit her in her Primate World. When she gives birth, the zoo will update the community.
In the baby’s first month, zookeepers will look for the baby to smile, laugh, roll over from its stomach to its back, intimate soft play, and begin to teethe.
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