A Cincinnati zoo is raising a baby gorilla by pretending to be its surrogate parents. 10 workers are playing the role of mother, helping nurture the young gorilla.

"She's at the age now where she really starts growing by leaps and bounds," Ron Evans, the primate team leader at Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden told the Cincinnati Enquirer Friday. "The next step, she'll be able to walk around by herself."

The baby gorilla, Gladys came to Cincinnati last month from Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, after she was born there Jan. 29 to a first-time mother who showed little maternal instinct, the Enquirer reported. It was decided to move her to Cincinnati's zoo because of its extensive experience in raising gorilla babies and its availability of experienced gorilla mothers.

The 10 human surrogates dress in black, wear furry vests and kneepads and make gorilla sounds to help prepare Gladys for the transition to a real gorilla family. They think that there are four potential primates to play the role of mother for Gladys in the near future.

"The gorillas have to decide who this baby's mom is going to be," Evans said. The zoo allowed gorillas to touch Gladys and get equated with the young primate.

"That will be the day that all this hard work pays off," said primate keeper Ashley O'Connell, crawling around with the 9-pound gorilla riding on her back.

O'Connell just had her own first child five months ago.

"I feel like I'm the mother of two right now," she said. "If I have to be away from my own child, this is where I want to be."