The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is celebrating an event that hasn’t happened in more than two decades: the birth of a male Bornean orangutan.
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Officials said in a statement Tuesday that 19-year-old Batang gave birth to a son Monday. If the newborn and his mother continue to thrive, visitors will be able to view them at the zoo with father Kyle, as well as Bonnie, Iris, Kiko, and Lucy-all of whom are adult Bornean-Sumatran mixes.
Zoo staff said they think the baby orangutan was conceived on February 2.
The staff also trained other females in the great ape house in case the biological mother was unwilling or unable to care for her infant.
Orangutans are considered critically endangered, but the species just got another member to their community after an orangutan gave birth at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
The zoo made Batang’s pregnancy public through a Facebook Live broadcast on June 14. “I am very proud of Batang and my team”.
Zoo staff have been hard at work helping Batang prepare for motherhood, teaching her to hold the baby upright, present the baby to keepers for bottle feedings and put the baby in a special box when asked, which enables the staff to provide the necessary care to the infant.
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“I look forward to watching the infant experience everything for the first time-especially meeting the other orangutans and going outside for the first time with Batang”, Bastian said. According to the zoo, orangutans are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, where they are only found in the diverse forests of Borneo and Sumatra. In Kalimantan, for instance, 80 percent of the orangutan’s range isn’t protected, and clearing for oil palm plantations is pushing the apes into ever smaller forest fragments.
