Little Rock Zoo asks public to name baby gorilla

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — The Little Rock Zoo is asking the public to choose a name for its new baby gorilla.

The gorilla, a male, was born June 20 to mom Sekani, who has been at the zoo since 2004. The father, a silverback named Kivu, is a first-time dad who came to the Little Rock Zoo in 2016 from Santa Barbara.

There are three names the zoo is considering for the newborn. The first is Sangha, a tributary of the Congo River in central Africa. The body of water is similar is to Lake Kivu, after which the Little Rock Zoo's silverback gorilla was named.

The second name is Bukavu, which is a city on the southwestern edge of Lake Kivu. According to the zoo, the city is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and shares a border with Rwanda.

The third possible name is Azingo, a lake in Gabon, a country on the Atlantic coast of central Africa

Click here to vote on the names.