For the first time in nine years, primate staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are celebrating the birth of a male western lowland gorilla. He was born at 6:25 p.m. April 15 and is named Moke [Mo-KEY], which means “junior” or “little one” in the Lingala language. The parents—15 year old mother Calaya and 26-year-old father Baraka—bred in summer 2017 following a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan (SSP).
