Bambio

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 remaining across their African range. At Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, one member of this critically endangered subspecies has called the facility home for over two decades. Bambio entered the world on August 16, 2003, born to parents Timu and Motuba within the zoo’s gorilla program.

Raised in captivity from birth, she represents part of the managed population working to maintain genetic diversity for her subspecies. Her father Motuba and mother Timu provided the foundation for her early development within the troop structure that defines gorilla social life.

Now in her twenties, Bambio has spent her entire life at the Nebraska facility where she was born. The Western Lowland Gorilla subspecies – Gorilla gorilla gorilla – carries the IUCN’s most severe conservation classification of Critically Endangered, making each individual in managed care part of a broader effort to understand and preserve the species.