The infant was named Kiazi, which is a Swahili word for “potato.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden announced the birth of an endangered chimpanzee.
According to the news of Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, after an about 8-month gestation period, 14-year-old Nia gave birth to a female chimpanzee at 10:17 a.m on Wednesday, October 1. This is Nia’s second child!
The baby chimp weighed approximately 4 pounds at birth and it is appreciated that she is in good health by zoo officials. Primate caretakers have named the infant chimp an adorable name “Kiazi”. In Swahili, this name means “ potato”.
Immediately after Nia gave birth, caretakers began observing her interactions with the newborn chimp. It was a pity that Nia was not displaying appropriate maternal behaviors towards her child. Therefore, the OKC Zoo’s veterinary and primate caretaker teams decided to intervene and begin assisted rearing of the baby chimp.
“The OKC Zoo is committed to caring for Kiazi through assisted rearing with the ultimate goal of reuniting her with our chimpanzees,” Tracey Dolphin, the zoo’s primate curator said. “Kiazi will be ‘rooted’ in her family troop and will be reintegrated when she is old enough with the help of our proven surrogate chimp mom, Kito.”
The baby chimp Kiazi now is being taken care of by a dedicated team of animal experts and select volunteers at the great ape habitat. And it will continue until the chimp can be reunited with Nia!
Now, Kiazi is the seventh chimpanzee at the zoo. Besides Kiazi, there are 6 chimpanzees including four females: Nia, 54-year-old Cindy, 35-year-old Kito, and 21-year-old Kirsty Nia, and males Mwami and Ruben.
She’s a real cutie. Welcome this little potato and best wishes to her! 🤷♀️🤔😉
