OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden announced the birth of a female chimpanzee at the facility’s great ape habitat.
According to a news release, 14-year-old Nia gave birth to the baby chimp at 10:17 a.m. CDT on Oct. 12. It is Nia’s second child.
The infant weighed about 4 pounds at birth and is in good health, according to zoo officials. Caretakers have named the chimp Kiazi, which is Swahili for “potato.”
Nia was not displaying “appropriate maternal behaviors” toward the baby chimp, so members of the zoo’s veterinary and primate care teams intervened and began helping out, according to the news release.
“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 in a statement. “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 infant now brings the total population of chimpanzees at the zoo to seven. That includes four females: Nia, 54-year-old Cindy, 35-year-old Kito and 21-year-old Kirsty. The two males are Mwami and Ruben.
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