Premature gorilla baby born at Texas zoo in emergency C-section

Earlier this week, a zoo in Fort Worth, Texas, announced that in January, a baby gorilla was born prematurely.

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The Fort Worth Zoo announced on Valentine’s Day that the zoo had recently welcomed a premature female gorilla baby.

The baby gorilla was born on Jan. 5, People magazine reported. She weighed 3 pounds, 1 ounce at birth and now weighs approximately 5 pounds.

The reason the baby was born prematurely was that her mother, Sekani, was diagnosed with preeclampsia. The staff at the zoo worked with veterinarians as well as a local obstetrician and neonatologist to figure out the best course of action, which ultimately ended up being an emergency C-section, the zoo said.

Before her C-section, zoo staff had noticed that the mother had “started holding her head and that can be a sign of a headache in a gorilla,” Associate Veterinarian Sarah Cannizzo said, according to KXAS .

Sekani has since made a full recovery, according to People.

We have affectionately named the female baby Jameela, which means “beautiful” in Swahili,” the zoo said in a Facebook post.

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