C-sections for gorillas are quite rare, largely because birth complications are uncommon and risks of surgery can be high, said Dr. Tim Storms, Woodland Park’s director of animal health. Fewer than a dozen have been recorded globally to date, according to the zoo, which attributed the anecdotal estimate to gorilla experts around the world, like the Gorilla Species Survival Plan.

In the case of Olympia, a 30-year-old western lowland gorilla who’s lived in Seattle since 2022, the emergency surgery brought together a team of animal and human medical providers to serve a critically endangered species and accomplish a feat they’d never practiced.

“We were all just in awe,” said Dr. Suzanne Peterson, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at Swedish First Hill. “This was a moment that we will have with us forever.”

Woodland Park Zoo, more than 120 years old, has worked with “human-based” medical experts for decades, said zoo spokesperson Gigi Allianic. Specialists in care ranging from cardiac to orthopedic to ophthalmology have consulted on Woodland Park’s animals in the past, including in 2017 when a gorilla received a leg exam from the head physician of the University of Washington’s football team.