ASHEBORO— The North Carolina Zoo has another pregnant gorilla.

The zoo in Asheboro announced Thursday that its third female gorilla is pregnant and should deliver this summer.

A successful pregnancy would mean all three of the zoo's female gorillas will have given birth in less than a year.

"To have two in one year was unheard of. Now to have a third within 10 months is phenomenal," said Rod Hackney, a zoo spokesman.

Acacia, 18, is expected to give birth in June or July.

The father of all three is Nkosi, 22, who came from the Columbus Zoo in 2008.

Jamani, 13, gave birth to a male that has been named Bomassa on Aug. 4. Jamani had come from the San Diego Zoo in 2010.

On Aug. 31, Olympia, 17, delivered a male name Apollo. Olympia had come from Zoo Atlanta in 2009.

Since the deliveries, Jamani, Olympia and their infants have all done extremely well and are becoming the zoo's most popular attractions.

"For the first nine months, the mom has them completely wrapped up," Hackney said. "As they get to about a year, they wander away on their own, and that's when they kind of hit their cuteness peak."

The North Carolina Zoo's first baby gorilla, Kwanza, was born in 1989. He was transferred in 1998 to Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo where he became a father as part of a gorilla species survival plan developed by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.

There are only about 350 gorillas in 52 accredited zoos. There have been just four successful births out of eight pregnancies during 2011 and early 2012.