Inaki

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100,000 remaining across their African range. Born at the National Zoological Park to parents Moka and Nikumba, Inaki entered the world as part of the captive breeding efforts for this critically endangered subspecies.

Her early years took her from Washington to the Yerkes Primate Center, where she lived as part of the research and conservation community. In April 1992, she transferred to Busch Gardens Tampa, beginning what would become the longest chapter of her life.

For more than twenty-one years, she called Busch Gardens home. The Florida facility became her permanent residence, where she lived until her death in October 2013. Her life spanned multiple decades of conservation work for Gorilla gorilla gorilla, a subspecies that remains one of our closest living relatives and among the most threatened great apes on the planet.