BALTIMORE — The Maryland Zoo’s newest chimpanzee was officially named on Thursday with the help of the Baltimore Ravens front office staff.
Violet was born to Raven on Dec. 29, 2019. She’s the second chimpanzee to be born at the Zoo in recent months after Lola was born in July 2019.
Raven was born in the Zoo’s Chimpanzee Forest habitat in 1995 soon after the habitat opened.
“As a longtime partner of The Maryland Zoo, we were happy to help welcome Violet to the Baltimore family,” said Brad Downs, Baltimore Ravens Vice President of Marketing. “Our organization and fans have embraced Rise and Conquer, so having the opportunity to be involved in the naming process for Violet was exciting. We can't wait to meet her.”
Five name choices up for vote were chosen by the Chimpanzee Forest team and the Ravens. Nearly 50 front office employees at the Ravens headquarters including the marketing, corporate sales, digital media, broadcasting, community relations, public relations and finance teams voted on:
- Corvina: Latin meaning “like a raven”
- Morella: Title of short story by Edgar Allan Poe
- Lenore: Character in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”
- Kanoni: Swahili origin, meaning “little bird”
- Violet: Latin for “purple”
There are currently 14 chimpanzees in The Maryland Zoo’s troop including the newborn.
