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Dublin Zoo reveals the chosen name of the adorable baby gorilla

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Dublin Zoo and SSE Airtricity have announced the chosen name of the adorable baby gorilla, who was born on April 1 at Dublin Zoo.

Thousands of entries were made in the nationwide competition to pick a name for the animal, and the winner was announced as Ina Walsh.

Ina suggested the name Asali, which translates to 'honey' in Swahili, and was declared the recipient of free electricity for a year from SSE Airtricity.

Followers of RTE's The Zoo can tune in this Sunday for the final episode of the series to see baby Asali's birth in Dublin Zoo. The staff at the zoo are over the moon with Asali's progress.

The gorilla is being carefully minded by her parents, and is mixing well with the rest of the gorilla troop. Asali has a charming personality already, developing fast and weighing over four kilos.

Team Leader Helen Clarke Bennett says;

“Asali has had quite the few weeks. She is bright, alert and extremely adventurous. She has come on leaps and bounds over the past few weeks and has even developed a special bond with Kambiri another young female in troop."

Helen added;

"The two spend their days playing together and Asali is learning many important life skills from this friendship. We are looking forward to watching Asali’s development and can’t wait to watch her grow into adulthood.”

Dublin Zoo is currently home to a troop of five western lowland gorillas; Bangui, the dominant male and Asali’s father, and four females; Asali's mother, Kafi, Kambiri, Vana and now the newest baby. 

Aine Plunkett, Head of Marketing for SSE Airtricity said; “We’re delighted with the response we received for the competition and can’t think of a more fitting and beautiful name as Asali."

Western lowland gorillas are the largest of the primates and normally favour quiet, tranquil environments.

The Gorilla Rainforest, their habitat at Dublin Zoo, was strongly influenced by behavioural studies of gorillas in the wild. The environment and design is based around these reports.

High, rocky outcrops and trees give the apes an a great view of the surrounding landscape, and the gorillas are able to forage and move to private resting spaces due to streams and dense vegetation.

We love the new name, welcome to Dublin baby Asali. 

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