Baby Boom

Another gorilla baby is expected at the NC Zoo. Now it is Acacia who is pregnant. (Jamani and Olympia each gave birth to gorillas here in August.)

""Any baby is an attraction, but when you get one of the very popular animals like a gorilla or chimp or giraffe, that's always an extra addition," [Zoo spokesman Rod Hackney told The Business Journal serving the Triad]. "We can't say exactly what it does to attendance because we don't survey people to see if they came to the zoo just to see the baby, but in general we do see a bump in attendance when we get a birth from what zoo folk refer to as 'charismatic megavertabrates.'"

"The zoo would welcome any extra attention it can get from lawmakers in Raleigh this year too. Officials there hope to revisit a plan to shift from state ownership into a public-private nonprofit partnership to be better able to address a long backlog of capital and facility needs. That plan garnered some support last year, but failed to win approval."