Two Como Zoo gorillas are expected to give birth this fall

Baby showers may be on the fall schedule of events for the Gorilla Forest at Como Park Zoo in St. Paul, where two females are expecting to give birth in the next few months.

Zookeepers said this week that Alice, age 12, and Dara, age 11, each tested positive three times for pregnancy. It's estimated that Alice will have her baby sometime before December, while Dara's due date is thought to be from mid-December through the end of January.

Alice and Dara arrived at the Como Zoo last year as part of the new $11 million Gorilla Forest, the largest all-mesh gorilla enclosure in North America.

The father is the Como Zoo's Big Ape on Campus, 28-year-old Schroeder, who has been at the zoo for 23 years. Last year he was forced to give up some of his privacy when he was joined by six new gorillas, including Dara and Alice — who was said to have developed a crush on the big monkey.

It's cause for celebration at the zoo, which has never before seen gorilla births in the 55 years it has cared for gorillas.

According to the zoo, gorilla gestation takes about eight months. Baby gorillas weigh between four and five pounds at birth, and 4 in 10 of them typically die in the first several months. They quickly bond with their mothers.

Como's other gorillas are Nne (pronounced E-nee), a 26-year-old female, and the three bachelors — Jabir, Samson and Virgil, all 15 — who created some excitement this summer when they fled the exhibit's replica jungle through an unlatched door and were found hanging out in a nearby hallway that was secured and off-limits to the public.