A baby gorilla who was shunned by her mother and raised by human surrogates is to be moved from Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo to another Ohio zoo.
Kamina, a Western lowland gorilla, arrived at the Cincinnati Zoo after she was rejected by her mother at the Oklahoma City Zoo she was born at four months ago, according to the Associated Press.
About 16 human surrogates, dressed in furry gorilla suits, spent hours caring for the shunned baby and tried introducing her to two female gorillas. But the introduction didn't work and now experts believe the best option is to move Kamina to the Columbus Zoo, which has prior success with surrogate gorilla babies.
"Kamina has learned all of the behaviors she needs to know in order to be successful in a gorilla group," Cincinnati Zoo primates curator Ron Evans said according to the AP. "Unfortunately, neither of the adult females that we hoped would bond with her did."
When Kamina arrived in Cincinnati in September, the goal was to expose her to "gorillafication," where keepers nurtured and showed her how to be a gorilla.
Volunteers crawled on all fours while Kamina clung to their stomachs and backs, the AP reported. They also grunted to calm her and used coughing sounds for scolding.
But when it came time to introduce her to the zoo's two adult females, they did not bond with Kamina.
"For whatever reason, Samantha simply did not desire to pick her up and even pushed Kamina away at times," Evans said of one of the adult gorillas, Reuters reported.
Western lowland gorillas are endangered in Africa, where mining and agricultural developments have decreased their numbers, according to Cincinnati Zoo officials. They are not yet sure when Kamina will be moved to her new home.
