North Texas OBGYN reunites with gorilla delivered by C-section

Añadido: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Two years ago, a baby gorilla named Jamila was born at the Fort Worth Zoo via emergency C-section. That surgery was performed by a local OBGYN who normally operates on humans. It was a historic operation that showed extraordinary collaboration between the Fort Worth Zoo's veterinarians, animal care specialist, and human medical experts. Well, recently, the members of that historic team got to visit Jamila and reconnect with the gorilla that changed all of their lives.

[00:00:31]I saw her and I thought, "I'm the very first person that got to meet you. I'm the first person who got to touch you and hold you. And now here you are. You're You're just this little toddler running around and having a whole life." Dr. Jamie Irwin, a local OBGYN, delivered Jamila in January of 2024. It was a name given to the baby gorilla as a nod to the doctor who brought her into this world via an emergency C-section, likely saving the baby and the baby's birth mother, Sekani's life. Dr. Irwin recently traveled with a team from the Fort Worth Zoo to visit the now rambunctious 2-year-old gorilla at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. It was beautiful. I mean, Jamila is growing. She's hitting all her milestones.

[00:01:17]She has a wonderful family, a wonderful mom. Fredrika is her surrogate mom, who is is just raising her like her own.

[00:01:26]Jamila's birth mother, Sekani, had struggled to bond with Jamila after birth, so she was transferred to Cleveland where she was adopted by a surrogate gorilla mom, Fredrika. I think for all of us, just getting to see her so happy and thriving and strong in her new family in Cleveland, it was beautiful full circle. You're an OBGYN that typically delivers human babies. Uh this was kind of a one-of-a-kind experience for you, but what has it taught you about uh babies, about motherhood, about caregiving across species. I say it almost every day.

[00:02:03]Women, females, are the most incredible creatures. I think that translates over to our gorilla species. I think it's just absolutely beautiful to see what females do. We truly are so special. Um, it's it's incredible. Every day I'm just inspired by the patients I take care of, um, including gorillas. An extraordinary group of human medical specialists, an OBGYN, neonatologist, CRNAs, surgical assistants, all working alongside Fort Worth Zoo veterinarians and animal caretakers to bring Jamila into the world. Getting a chance to now see her healthy and thriving. It's It's a win for everybody. So, yes, we miss her in Fort Worth, um, but the take-home point is she's doing well and everybody that got to participate, whether in her historic delivery or her care, her feeding afterwards, or now supporting her in her new family, everybody wins.

[00:03:10]What do [snorts] you hope that people take away from this kind of update of hearing how Jamila really is doing well?

[00:03:16]I hope they take away that, um, you know, science and medicine crosses all boundaries and the the greater zoo community is such a beautiful thing. And yeah, it's it's pretty cool. I have a gorilla named after me. So, I just I love it. She's very special in my life.

[00:03:35]Now, Dr. Erwin says it was a deeply emotional trip and also a powerful reminder of what compassion, collaboration, and science can accomplish when humans all come together for something much bigger than themselves. I love this. This is so awesome. I was going to say what a cool follow-up for you to do, but can we just talk about how cute the baby gorilla is?

[00:03:55]It's like so sweet.

[00:03:56]>> And Jamila is literally thriving. Like you saw just a clip there, but the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has done such a great job of documenting her last 2 years. So, check out their YouTube page because they have so many adorable clips of her just kind of enjoying her little family up there in Cleveland.

[00:04:11]>> you like to scroll and look and look at animals just having a blast, definitely go ahead and do that.