Asheboro, NC - A baby chimpanzee was born at the North Carolina Zoo Monday evening, marking the 12th chimp birth at the park since its opening in 1974 and the second since August 2010. Ebi, as the infant female has been named, was born to Tammy, a 41-year-old female who had previously given birth to Maki in March 1994.
Both mother and daughter are doing fine, and the mother is caring for the infant without any intervention from zoo staff members. The two are not on exhibit and will not be in the foreseeable future due to the cold weather and the infant-rearing process. According to General Curator Ken Reininger, it will be at least summer before the two will be on exhibit.
Seventeenth-month-old Nori, the zoo's youngest chimp before Ebi's arrival Monday, can be seen on exhibit daily--weather permitting. Monday's birth brings the number of chimps in the N.C. Zoo to 12 and keeps the zoo's chimp troop as one of the largest in U.S. zoos. The zoo is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Dee A. Freeman, Secretary; Beverly E. Perdue, Governor.