Gorilla Tales: Ndume's life after the famous Koko

Ndume at the Cincinnati Zoo. Life is good.

 Ndume started his life 44 years ago at the Cincinnati Zoo, and has experienced an unconventional celebrity-adjacent lifestyle, a lot of drama and even a famous custody battle before returning to a normal gorilla life in 2019, returning to his original home at the Cincinnati Zoo.  These days, he happily looks out over his troop of two favored gorilla ladies, M'linzi and her daughter Mara, enjoying life as a silverback should. 

Ndume

Ndume, here in the inside habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo, has a very distinctive profile, with a very tall almost pointed head. 

He spent his early years at the Cincinnati Zoo, and one of his playmates was his half sister M'linzi, who was about a year younger. He moved to the Brookfield Zoo when he was seven years old, and while there fathered four babies, Baraka, Mtu Chuma, and Zuza, plus one who only lived a few days. All have since passed away.

Ndume swirling his pink blanket.

When he was ten years old, Ndume returned to Cincinnati for a short time, but was soon selected as companion to the famous Koko, with the legal agreement that he would return to the Cincinnati Zoo upon the death of Koko. 

Handsome Ndume.

His role as companion to world renowned sign language  gorilla Koko at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside California started with high hopes, but led to frequent isolation, as Koko seemed to prefer people and even kittens to other gorillas. In addition, successful gorilla troops include a silverback and multiple females. In the Gorilla Foundation scenario, Koko was the only female.

Ndume 

According to the Gorilla Foundation, Koko had selected Ndume through a kind of "video dating," which was probably choosing whom she liked by watching videos of various gorilla suitors.

Ndume  was born October 10, 1981 at the Cincinnati Zoo to Ramses and Rosie (Mata Hari). Rosie went on to become the first and only gorilla mother to give birth through in vitro fertilization anywhere (this was also at the Cincinnati Zoo). The baby girl was named Timu. Rosie/ Mata Hari died in 2018 at age 43 at the North Carolina Zoo. Father Ramses, who is also father of M'linzi, now lives in the Fort Worth Zoo and at age 55 in April is one of the oldest gorillas in the world. Ramses' father was King Tut, the first silverback gorilla of the Cincinnati Zoo.

King Tut, Ndume's grandfather

 The famous Samantha, who had so many babies at the Cincinnati Zoo, was Ndume's aunt. Ndume's father Ramses was also the father of eleven other babies, including M'linzi, who has remained at the Cincinnati Zoo since her birth in 1982 and is now part of his troop.

Mara in foreground, and Ndume in 2021.

When Ndume first returned to the Cincinnati Zoo in 2019, after the judgment in the custody lawsuit, he was placed with M'linzi's daughter Mara, along with Chewie, Mara's half sister through their father. Ndume seemed very happy with the arrangement of having two ladies after so many years of being alone, and especially was fond of Mara. 

Ndume's original troop in Cincinnati, Chewie and Mara in 2021. 

When the beloved Silverback Jomo passed away in March of 2022, the Cincinnati Zoo felt that Jomo's death left a leadership vacuum in his troop, which was composed of younger females and M'linzi, who lacked the strong personality needed. At the time, no outside Silverback was available and the zoo needed to form an all female troop, so Chewie was brought over from Ndume's troop, as she knew how to be in charge.  

Mara in her jungle

Mara in front, and her mom M'linzi back

M'linzi  then became the third member of Ndume's troop, along with her daughter Mara. It has worked out very well. 

M'linzi, in the inside habitat.

In late 2022, Silverback M'Beli arrived from Denver, and became the leader of the girls troop, and since then they have welcomed a baby boy, Mboka Jo, son of Gladys. This troop is now made up of M'Beli, Chewie, Gladys, Baby Mboka Jo, young Elle and young Mona/Mondika. When Gladys was a baby, she came from another zoo in need of a surrogate mother. Keepers cared for Baby Gladys until M'linzi was chosen as surrogate mom.

The third rotating group at the Cincinnati Zoo is a bachelor troop from Detroit, half brothers Chip, Pende and Kongo. 

The three troops are rotated between a fairly new indoor enclosure, the spacious woodsy outside habitat, and behind the scenes,  so anytime you visit during good weather, you probably will see two troops. During the winter, you will probably only see one troop, whichever group is rotated into the inside habitat, although with glare it is harder to get good photos there.

Ndume holding court in the inside habitat.

Ndume is closely related to his ladies, M'linzi being his half sister and Mara being his niece, but all lady gorillas at the Cincinnati Zoo who are not approved for breeding are on birth control, and that is the case for Ndume's troop.

Ndume

Life at the Gorilla Foundation

Ndume's life is settled now, a proper gorilla's life with a troop of ladies, just as it should be.  Not so, in his younger days at the Gorilla Foundation.

When he was ten years old, with his ownership still remaining with the Cincinnati Zoo, he was moved to California and the Gorilla Foundation, where Koko was the star pupil in the experiment to teach gorillas to communicate with sign language. Reportedly, Koko knew how to sign 1000 words, and could understand 2000 words.  Ndume also was taught to sign. 

Ndume was brought there to be mate for Koko, but Koko was not interested in him as a boyfriend, just as a friend.

Koko was famous for many things, including adopting a kitten, and a book was written about this, called "Koko's Kitten." Koko was also visited by many celebrities such as Betty White and Robin Williams, and was featured on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, where she did what she had seen Fred Rogers do on TV, take his shoes off.

Koko also was the subject of two cover stories in National Geographic.

However, controversy swirled around the Gorilla Foundation. Some charged that Koko was just imitating her teacher, that the interpretations were subjective, and that the gorillas were not getting timely veterinary care, that their diet was not appropriate. In any case, Koko's positive publicity brought public awareness of gorillas and their emotions.

Ndume also learned some sign language, and there was another male gorilla there, Michael. Since Koko was not interested romantically in Ndume, after Michael died in 2000, the lone silverback was sometimes isolated and that is not a good thing for gorillas, who are social animals. 

When Koko died at the age of 46 in 2018 at the Gorilla Foundation, the Cincinnati Zoo required that the original agreement be honored, that Ndume would return to them upon the event of Koko's death. The Gorilla Foundation refused, saying that such a move would be detrimental to Ndume, that the gorilla was attached to and dependent upon his human caregivers, and the move could even cause his death.

The lawsuit dragged on for a year, but the Cincinnati Zoo at last was awarded custody. Ndume returned to his original home, where he learned to be a regular gorilla again, first adjusting to zoo life, and then with a troop of Chewie and Mara. Several of his human companions from the Gorilla Foundation traveled with him and helped him adjust for the first month or two.

Slowly but surely, Ndume got to know the other gorillas. 

Primate keeper Ron Evans, who knew Ndume as a baby,
here with young Gladys..

Ndume was also reunited with primate keeper Ron Evans, who first took care of Ndume when he was young. 

Hi, big handsome guy, says Mara. 

Mara flirts with Ndume. 

Mara runs away, playing hard to get. Ndume runs after her,
 brings her back. 

Here comes Ndume

Hello pretty gorilla

Gorilla courtship.

Ndume seems content now at the Cincinnati Zoo, living the life of a Silverback leader of his own troop.

The Cincinnati Zoo celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2025, as the second oldest zoo in the US.

 

Members Morning at the Cincinnati Zoo

Some Romaine Lettuce for Fiona at Members Morning

Once a year, the Cincinnati Zoo opens up early on a Summer Saturday for members only, with some special activities. This morning, from 8 to 10 .a.m., zoo members got to experience some extra wonderful fun activities given to the animals. It was a magical morning of enrichment.

Henry the Sumatran Orangutan got a watermelon
 for Members Morning

 It seemed that just about everyone got a treat.  Here is a look at Henry the Orangutan, Little One and Anana Polar Bears, the Red Pandas, Fiona and Bibi Hippos, and a few other zoo residents. 

Chester the Andean Bear had nuts inside of a puzzle feeder, a toy that makes the animals work for their food as they would in the wild.
It is a great form of enrichment.

How Henry shells peanuts

Henry the Sumatran Orangutan was given a big pile of nuts and fruits and greens on one side of the habitat, but a watermelon awaited his attention on the other side. Henry eats peanuts in the shell by extracting the nut and spitting out the shell.

How Henry eats oranges. He spits out the peel

Henry finds the watermelon

  His keepers had to call him over to check out the melon. 

All mine. Henry does not like to share. So he doesn't.

The White Handed Gibbons watch Henry feast

The White Handed Gibbons, who share life with Henry, were curious about the melon, but they kept their distance, hoping Henry might leave some scraps later. Not likely, says the keeper.

Henry breaks in to the melon 

 Henry finally gave the melon his attention, biting into it, then splitting it in half with his strong arms.

Bite size slices

Henry's smile

A summertime treat

He laid the pieces out in front of him like he was setting a table, then dove into the pieces with his mouth. The keeper said he would probably eat it all, even the rind, leaving nothing for the White Handed Gibbons, although I am sure they got their own enrichment.

Anana with a blue ball by the pool

 The polar bears got some treats too, some meaty ribs and some toys. Anana was interested in the meat, but Little One was too interested in Anana to pay attention.

Anana with a strip of meat

Little One is still showing courtship behavior, sniffing at her and being very affectionate, even though it is late July, long past breeding season.

Anana and Little One play fighting, a form of polar bear affection

 They swam together and had mock battles, they play fought. He followed her around like a lovesick puppy, letting her have all the treats.

Little One is still showing courtship behavior towards his sweetheart Anana

He sniffed at her back end and nuzzled her. 

"Luv Members" - Little One follows Anana everywhere

Members got to feel the love too, with the lovely banner hung over one of the windows of the polar bear pool area.

Fiona and Bibi wait for lettuce from their keeper

The keeper called the Nile Hippos over for their special treat today, yelling out "Bee! Come over here Bee!" Bibi and Fiona were given some crunchy Romaine Lettuce today, and they seemed to enjoy it.

Open wide, Bibi

Photos of the inside of Bibi's mouth

Daughter and Mother

The African Painted Dogs got some new toys
 and a roller that said
 "Members"  

Elle the baby Gorilla enjoys the melting juice from frozen chunk of ice hanging in inside area of Gorilla World. It was made by pouring sweet treats and frozen water into a bucket and then freezing it.
 Several were hanging up today.

Even the White Lions, Gracious and her mom Prosperity,
 got some lovely ice disks to help them cool off

The Lions were sleeping when I visited. They had gotten some enrichment earlier, and this tube saying We Love Members was all that remained as the lions slumbered.

The Red Pandas enjoyed a new fire hose hammock

New toys for the Red Pandas

A map of the Cincinnati Zoo.
New Kangaroo exhibit coming in 2020