 Pattycake , also known as Patty Cake ( September 3 , 1972 – March 31 , 2013 ) was a female western lowland gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla ) born to Lulu and Kongo at the Central Park Zoo in New York City . She was the first baby gorilla successfully born in captivity in New York . Months after her much publicized birth , Pattycake 's arm was broken when it got stuck in her cage as her mother grabbed her away from her father . The incident was <unk> <unk> in the media as a domestic dispute between Lulu and Kongo , but in reality experts thought it was a simple accident . 
