Ali, a female, was born June 1, 2018 to mother Koola, age 23. Ali joins the four-generation family group of western lowland gorillas currently at the Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago. Almost 350 western lowland gorillas are now living in accredited North American zoos. The western lowland gorilla is considered critically endangered, and experts estimate there are just 200,000 living in their native West Africa habitat (the forests of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Congo, and Angola).

Brookfield Zoo
September 2018

Koola and baby Ali by Paul Sager, on Flickr



Gorillas weigh between 4 and 5 pounds at birth, smaller than the average human baby. Although the infant will start to sample small pieces of food at about four months old, nursing will continue until about four years old.

Baby Ali and Koola



Ali, at about 3-months. Shortly, she'll start riding on her mother’s back, and about a month later, she will begin to explore the habitat on her own while staying within an arm’s reach of Koola.

Ali - born June 1, 2018



Gorillas live in social groups comprised of one adult male, several adult females, a number of youth and infants. As they reach sexual maturity, both male and female gorillas leave their original social groups and either establish a new group or join an existing one. Nora, age 4, and step-brother Zachary, age 2.

Nora and step-brother Zachary



The group's silverback and father of all three youngsters is 35-year old JoJo. JoJo was brought over from the Lincoln Park Zoo in 2012 as part of the Western Lowland Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP), which promotes healthy breeding and population management for species. He is one of the most genetically valuable males in the SSP population and his calm temperament has been an especially good match for the adult females at Brookfield Zoo.

Papa JoJo


Also known as the Chicago Zoological Park, the Brookfield Zoo is located in the Chicago suburb of Brookfield, Illinois. The zoo houses around 450 species of animals in an area of 216 acres. It opened on July 1st 1934 and quickly gained international recognition for using moats and ditches instead of cages to separate animals from visitors and from other animals.

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