Como Zoo officials are crossing their fingers because Alice, a Western lowland gorilla, is pregnant again.
The St. Paul zoo's announcement, which coincided with Mother's Day weekend, noted that this would be the third gorilla birth in the zoo's 50-plus years of caring for gorillas.
Fourteen-year-old Alice has moved into her second trimester and is expected to give birth between early September and mid-October.
This isn't her first pregnancy. In 2014, her male infant died after four days, apparently because of difficulty feeding. The mortality rate for infant gorillas in captivity is about 40 percent.
"First-time gorilla mothers are more likely to experience challenges related to birth and child-rearing," John Dee, curator at Como Zoo, said in a statement. "Alice has been able to watch and learn from Dara [another Como gorilla] over the past two years. We believe this experience is going to be very beneficial to her this fall, and we are cautiously optimistic moving forward. Alice is in good health, and her pregnancy appears to be progressing well."
Dara gave birth to Arlene, who is now 2.
The father in both cases, and in Alice's pregnancy, is silverback Schroeder, 31, a longtime fixture at the zoo.
The gestation period for gorillas is about 36 weeks. Baby gorillas typically weigh 4 to 5 pounds at birth. They are usually kept away from public view in their first days to give the mother and baby time to bond and begin nursing.
Alice and Dara were among six gorillas that moved to Como in 2013 to live in the new $11 million Gorilla Forest exhibit, the largest all-mesh gorilla enclosure in North America.
Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113
