News and Stories

On September 20th, 2025, Western lowland gorilla, Gladys, welcomed her first baby to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s troop, Mboka Jo. Since then, zoo visitors have loved watching Mboka Jo grow, interacting with mom, dad (silverback gorilla, Mbeli,) and learning the gorilla way of life from careful observations of natural behaviors, vocalizations, and troop etiquette. This September 20^th, we are wishing Mboka Jo a happy first birthday and celebrating his growth as a member of the troop, along with Gladys’ impressive work raising a baby for the first time ever!

The first year of motherhood isn’t always a breeze, but Gladys’ example is one that inspires zoo visitors with every maternal embrace, and one that has likely left lasting impact on the troop’s next expectant mother, Chewie, for her upcoming journey of a lifetime!

Mboka Jo is named after the Lingala word, Mboka, meaning “community”, or “where you feel most at home”, as well as after Gladys’s late foster father, Jomo the Western lowland silverback gorilla. This name represents not only the local community efforts here in Cincinnati that were necessary in supporting Gladys through her pregnancy, but also the indispensable need for community involvement in the conservation of Western lowland gorillas across the Atlantic in the Republic of Congo.

The Cincinnati Zoo is dedicated not only to the exceptional care of Western lowland gorillas living at the Zoo, but also to conservation efforts in the Republic of Congo, where our global conservation partner, Congo-Apes’ Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, is working to protect the landscape of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, along with the species of apes that call the park home.

Through partnerships with local indigenous communities, monitoring of gorilla and chimpanzee populations across landscapes, and surveying of biodiversity with passive remote field cameras, Congo-Apes is investing in applied research and professional development to reveal the value and importance of protecting great apes, local communities, and the incredibly biodiverse landscape of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.

Happy Hoffman Coexistence Fellowship Gradu-Ape-Tion, Prospère!

Prospère TEBERD has been a Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Hoffman Coexistence Fellow since 2024. Graduating from the fellowship this year, Prospère’s work as a Mondika Gorilla Project Site Research Assistant for Congo-Apes in the Djéké Triangle of Congo has allowed him to act as a facilitator of human-wildlife coexistence in the field. His work centers around promoting the conservation of Western lowland gorillas through sustainable ecotourism and community engagement in northern Congo.

Prospère’s research is based at the Imbalanga research and tourism site, located in Odzala-Kokoua National Park. There, he is investigating the progress of gorilla habituation (the process through which wild animals gradually become tolerant of human presence) and how local communities perceive tourism relative to gorilla habituation in the area.

Because Western gorillas are critically endangered, habituation through ecotourism acts as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of their conservation and promote coexistence, while also prioritizing local development in the Northern Republic of Congo. Prospere’s research looks to investigate varying influences on the success of habituation efforts, including the environment, group dynamics, and human practices to improve the speed and efficacy of habituation methods while ensuring the animals’ well-being.

Habituation is a conservation method that raises funds through ecotourism while monitoring the health and behaviors of observed troops.  Consistent monitoring of troops adds an additional layer of protection against poaching. As habituation is a several-year process, Prospère has worked closely with specific Western lowland gorilla troops, individuals, and community members , dedicating much of his time to observation, data collection for his research, and building strong bonds with the inhabitants of this landscape. In one instance, Prospère recounts an especially impactful moment for him; his multi-year dedication to the protection of a gorilla troop undergoing habituation enabled the troop’s Silverback gorilla, Kingo, to effectively communicate life-saving information for Prospère and the rest of the trackers on site.

This story is just one powerful example of how consistency and long-term dedication within the conservation space can effectively drive coexistence. Who knew that one day, the species Prospère has devoted his life’s work to protecting, would return the favor and protect him? At the root of conservation change are the connections fostered over time between local communities, wildlife, and the organizations who work to propel these missions forward. If Kingo the silverback gorilla could see the value of this consistency, so much so that he was compelled to warn the trackers of the mamba’s presence, can you imagine the power it holds for local communities whose livelihoods often rely on the land and its resources- the resources that Congo-Apes is working to preserve?

Throughout his fellowship with the Cincinnati Zoo, Prospère has worked to find balance between the conservation of Western lowland gorillas and sustainable ecotourism in the Dominican Republic of Congo, working to construct a more complete baseline for the development of each.

Strong connections between communities and wildlife alike are not forged overnight. In Prospère’s experience, the first time he worked in the forest, he did not possess a fluent understanding of how to locate the gorilla troop. His colleague, Kota Samedi, had spent much more time monitoring the gorillas and was able to sense them near with just a sniff. “We’re about to find the gorillas,” Kota said to Prospère, marking the first time Prospère would encounter Kingo the silverback- “impressive, powerful, and fully-present” he remarked of the great ape. With time, understanding grows. The animal who Prospère could at first, not sense or understand, would eventually look out for him, understanding that their connection and the wellbeing of the trackers was of great value to him.

You can learn more about Congo-Apes’ mission, Prospère’s work, and the initiatives being supported by the Cincinnati Zoo on the Congo-Apes website. Click here to read about the impact that is possible when the spirit of community and base of scientific research work hand in hand to generate real conservation change.