Sumatran orangutan born at Sacramento Zoo
SACRAMENTO - The Sacramento Zoo is celebrating a rare addition to its primate family: a baby orangutan.
On Monday, the zoo announced that a male Sumatran orangutan was born on May 1. It's the first orangutan birth at the Sac Zoo since 1981, the zoo says.
The baby orangutan, a male, is the offspring of Indah, the zoo's 19-year-old Sumatran orangutan. Both mother and infant are doing well, the zoo says.
After the birth, the zoo's care staff began around-the-clock monitoring to ensure everything was going OK, but the zoo's team noticed that Indah was having difficulty breastfeeding. Staff then made the decision to intervene and provide "supplemental care." They say they are continuously reevaluating plans to reunite the infant with Indah, which is the ultimate goal -- although no timeframe is set for reunification.
The zoo says the infant and mother are not currently visible to members of the public, but that the zoo will continue to provide photos.
There are only 79 Sumatran orangutans in human care in the United States. "With populations of wild orangutans rapidly declining, every birth is a monumental success for the species," the zoo said in a statement.