Mother Calaya gave birth to the western lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species, early Saturday morning.

he heroic public affairs staff at the National Zoo heard my plea this morning for adorable baby animals and sent me this video of two-year-old (so maybe more “toddler” than “baby”) gorilla Kibibi, who had her first medical exam yesterday. Above is Kibibi waking up from her post-exam haze; you can find two more b-roll videos on the Zoo’s Flickr page. Though be warned, they are actually full-on medical exams, so if needles wig you out, just click over to these crazy adorable photos of baby Kibibi romping about with mom instead.

Photo by RoxandaBear In the grand tradition of several previous baby animal naming polls, the National Zoo has opened up voting on a name for its new baby girl gorilla. With a promise that the name that gets the most votes will be chosen, an announcement will follow mid-month. That doesn’t give us much time to make sure the right name is selected. Here are the three choices, which have origins in different African…

Photo by dcmandrill The National Zoo announced today that its three-week-old baby gorilla is a female. In a recent interview with DCist, the Zoo’s Associate Director for Animal Care, Don Moore, explained why it can often take a long time to determine the sex of a baby gorilla, and ventured that due to the baby’s lineage, it would be more important if it turned out to be a female than a male, so this…

In which DCist interviews area scientists, researchers, and academics on topics pertaining to natural and scientific interests. As Thomas Dolby would say: science! Don Moore is the Associate Director for Animal Care at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. As a zoo-based wildlife biologist, Moore has helped to create conservation and animal-management plans for zoos and wild animals in nature for more than 30 years. He worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York as…

The family at the National Zoo expanded today! Everyone welcome the newest addition to the Great Ape House: this guy! Or girl! Born to 26-year-old mother Mandara and 16-year-old father Baraka, this infant’s sex has yet to be determined. It may be a little while before this bunch of wrinkles gets a name. For the time being, Zoo officials will be watching the western lowland gorilla infant’s progress carefully. In a press release, Zoo…