on the gorilla Falls exploration Trail
lives a very special resident
this is our family Troupe of gorillas
they’re a big group all of our kids were
born here so we have Lily she’s our
oldest she’s 12. there she is
Lily is probably my favorite
she loves to interact with the keepers
she and I have a really good
relationship she’s very smart it’s
really funny grabs up all the toys and
takes them for herself she’s so cute
thank you
[Music]
and then we’ve got our two youngest
Grace
has just really started climbing the
trees
she’s climbing the tree to get that
smear board there
and she gets super super high up into
the trees
and then otta she was born last year
Lily she’s taking on more of a big
sister type of role she does a little
bit more protecting a little bit more
teaching it’s interesting to watch her
develop those maternal care behaviors
such a sweet gorilla
you gonna lay down back there Lily
you’re not feeling well this morning
but an ongoing health issue causes
concern
[Music]
you’re okay
[Music]
we know them very very well so I can at
a glance know whether Lily is feeling
well or not she’ll kind of hunch over
holding her stomach kind of crouched
down
foreign
ever since she was young she’s had some
stomach issues I’d
so many different times to find what it
is that’s making her sick
it’s sad to watch her be that sick and
not be able to do anything
she looks like she might vomit again
[Music]
oh poor thing you’re okay
I’ve known Lily since the day she was
born
she’s the same age as my daughter
we’ve been doing a lot of research to
find a way to make Lily feel better and
so we did a CT scan and the CT scan
showed that she has gas bubbles inside
of her intestinal wall as well as
outside of her bladder Dr Natalie and
the team refused to give up on Lily in
humans one way to treat this is to do
surgery but they’ve been moving away
from that and they’re starting to use
hyperbaric oxygen but this is a very
unique thing to do we’ve never really
known of anyone who’s tried this in a
gorilla
so it feels like the stakes are higher
and that makes it just a little bit more
scary come here Lily can you come up for
us
Lily’s going to be inside of this
hyperbaric oxygen chamber with pure
oxygen it’s going to go into her
bloodstream push those bubbles out and
we’re really hoping that this treatment
is the solution
it’s really hard for us as Keepers to
see her like that just to know that
there’s nothing that we can do
this treatment could be Lily’s only
chance of improving honestly she’s one
of my favorites I love her I just really
hope that we can find a way to make her
feel better
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
