It doesn’t matter what species it is, if it’s a baby, it will be absolutely adorable and people will absolutely love it! So brace yourself, orangutan baby news coming your way!
The Pairi Daiza zoo located in Brugelette, Belgium has recently welcomed the newest member of its ever-growing Sumatran orangutan family. Bored Panda got in touch with Mathieu Goedefroy, the spokesperson for the Pairi Daiza zoo, for more details on this joyous occasion.
Wanna see something ultra adorable? The Pairi Daiza Zoo just announced its latest addition to the orangutan family
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
So, dear Pandas, meet Mathaï, the male baby Sumatran orangutan who was born on November 28th to orangutan mother Sari and father Ujian (if that name sounds familiar, he's the orangutan who was recently going viral for making friends with otters). Mathaï will also be a baby brother to his other 4-year-old sibling, a brother named Berani.
The baby orangutan was named by his keepers. Goedefroy explained that the zookeeping team sat together and chose a name that they found beautiful and one that they believed fit the baby.
The name doesn’t have a particular meaning, though it is a name of several noteworthy people, including mathematicians, computer scientists, environmentalists, freedom fighters, and the like, so the name is definitely one of greatness.
Meet Mathaï, the baby Sumatran orangutan who was born on November 28th
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
Mathaï joined his family of 3, mother Sari, father Ujian, and big brother Berani
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
The zoo is also home to another orangutan couple—Gempa and Sinta. They too are expecting a baby—their first—with the due date being 2021. This would effectively bump the zoo’s current orangutan population from 6 to 7.
Mathaï was born by natural birth, without complications and healthy. He now spends his days together with his mother Sari, pretty much having the time of his life, as explained Goedefroy:
“It’s pretty much eating and sleeping. Our teams are monitoring the whole family closely 24/7 to make sure everything goes well. The signals are very good. Mathaï stays on his mom by holding her hair, opens his eyes every once in a while, and is drinking well. For the first two years of his life, he will stay almost permanently attached to his mom, holding her close.”
Since birth, the mother and the baby haven't separated at all and are spending their days sleeping and eating
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
Now, if you weren’t aware, the Sumatran orangutan is a critically endangered species with an ever-so-slightly decreasing global population. Habitat destruction and illegal hunting are what have caused their numbers to dwindle rapidly. To date, there are a bit over 14,000 Sumatran orangutans living in the wild.
But all is not lost, as many organizations, including the Pairi Daiza zoo, are funding reforestation projects to restore the Sumatran orangutan’s natural habitat. And though it is a huge problem that requires great efforts in stopping and turning the tide of depopulation, each and every one of us can do our part to help out, as explains Goedefroy:
“The best thing you can do to help protect orangutans is not buying uncertified palm oil products. When going shopping, check the package of your food (i.e. chocolate) for the RSPO (certified sustainable palm oil) sign which makes sure no orangutans were harmed to create the plantation where the oil comes from.”
"For the first two years of his life, he will stay almost permanently attached to his mom, holding her close”
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
Now, as you might have understood already, working with critically endangered species may turn out to be a bit of a challenge for many reasons, so we asked Goedefroy what is the biggest challenge of working with orangutans. He had this to say:
“The biggest challenge with orangutans in specific is their intelligence. We share 97% of our human DNA with these animals, and so they are incredibly sensitive, emotional and intelligent creatures who need attention from their keepers 24/7. We make them toys, we make them riddles and puzzles, we hide their food, etc.”
There's also another orangutan couple, Gempa and Sinta, who are expecting a baby in 2021
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
If you’d like to help out, then stop buying uncertified palm oil products, but if you want to help out more, then you can sponsor the animals of the Pairi Daiza zoo here. You can also find out more about everything that they do on their website as well as their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Also, we have already talked about this particular zoo a couple of times before, namely that one time when the zoo’s friendly neighborhood otters became friends with the zoo’s orangutan named Ujian, and that other time when the zoo gave its adorable inhabitants some zoo snacks to chow on for Halloween, so feel free to check out those stories as well.
Here's the "orangudad" by the way, making friends with the zoo's otters
Image credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
Check out the video of baby Mathaï snuggling with his mother
Video credits: Pairi Daiza Zoo
But before you click away to read more about zoo animals (or whatever you do on the internet), let us know what you thought about this! If you had the chance to name a baby orangutan, what would you name it?