Help the Zoo Name a Baby Gorilla!

The birth of a baby is always a joyous event, and that’s exactly the feeling at the Philadelphia Zoo, where a female lowland gorilla was born last month. It was only recently that keepers at the zoo were sure of the infant’s sex, since her mama, Honi, had been holding her baby too closely to get a good look.

The zoo is now trying to decide on a name for the gorilla baby. They have opened online voting. Each vote, which takes place at this site, costs $1 and benefits GRACE, the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center, which is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The nonprofit foundation helps care for orphaned gorillas whose parents were victims of poaching. The Philadelphia Zoo will match donations up to $10,000.

Mother Honi holds her unnamed baby gorilla. You can help pick her name! (Photo:  DAVID MAIALETTI / THE INQUIRER)

There are four names in contention, each one coming from a gorilla currently being cared for at GRACE. There is Amani, which means “peace” (due to the fact that United Nations peacekeepers helped facilitate her rescue), Isangi, named for the Congolese village where she was surrendered for care, Mapendo, which means “great love,” and comes from the name of a gorilla who is a kind and loving friend to others of her species, and Muyisa, for “luck,” named after a gorilla who was abducted to Rwanda before being returned to her Congo home.

In addition to your vote counting towards the naming of the baby gorilla, it also enters you in a contest with a chance to win “a prize package that includes a behind-the-scenes experience at the zoo, balloon ride and membership.” Voting is open through this Thursday at 4 p.m.

While the world waits to find out what her name will be, you can visit the baby gorilla at the Zoo at the zoo’s PECO Primate Reserve and Gorilla Treeway.