Zoo searches for foster mom for baby gorilla

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A baby gorilla at the Louisville zoo, named Kindi, needs a foster mom after her mom died the day after giving birth.

Kindi  is almost 3 months old and weighs 6 and a half pounds.

"She's reaching a lot of milestones. She has two teeth now," said Jill Katka -  assistant mammal curator

Katka and other staff members have been with Kindi 24-7 since her mother passed away, acting as gorillas.

"We wear a furry vest all the time and we're trying to have her learn what it's like to be a gorilla," said Katka.

But Kindi now needs a real gorilla mom to help fill in all the things that humans can't teach her.

The potential surrogates from the Louisville Zoo have had meet and greets with the baby. The animal trainers have to see if the gorillas are interested. Paki the gorilla has shown the most interest, and will get very excited when seeing Paki.

"She will push food through the mesh that she's eating," said Katka

When Kindi adapts to her gorilla mom her bond to her human surrogates will still be critical.

"Kindi needs to be able to crawl to the mesh to us to get a bottle because neither of our female are lactating now," said Katka.

The next few months the staff here will be keeping a close eye on Kindi's relationships with Paki and Kweli to see if one of them will take on a new mother role. If not, she  would have to be sent to another Zoo in search of another surrogate.

The Zoo is hopeful she stays here, and so are the man fans that visit Kindi.

CNN