The Indianapolis Zoo is swinging with excitement over its newest arrival: a baby orangutan born on Feb. 20 to resident mom Sirih.
The male baby, whose name has yet to be announced, marks the second orangutan birth at the Indianapolis Zoo. Fathered by Basan, the baby is Sirih and Basan’s second offspring. Mila, an 8-year-old female, is their first.
“The great news for us is we love sharing big successes, and this is a huge one for us,” said Robert Shumaker, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo.
The whole family are Sumatran orangutans born in captivity. Orangutans can live to 60 years in and out of captivity but spend most of their time alone, foraging for food and swinging from trees, which they rarely leave.
“Sirih is an excellent mom and is doing a perfect job raising (the baby),” Schumaker said.
The new baby increases the zoo’s orangutan count to 12, a large number for an American zoo. The Simon Skjodt International Orangutan Center, which opened in May 2014, is designed to meet the orangutans’ physical, social and intellectual needs.
A female orangutan’s first birth usually occurs around mid-teens and will typically not give birth again for another six to nine years. This interval is the longest of any land mammal.
Some additional facts about orangutans:
- The word orangutan is Malay for “person of the forest.”
- An orangutan’s arm span is long, about 9 feet from fingertip to fingertip for an adult male.
- Orangutans eat more than 500 different plant species, but their preference is for fruit.
- The main threat facing orangutans is habitat loss, primarily due to conversion for agriculture.
“Our mission is to protect nature and inspire people to care for our world, and we think the very best way we can inspire people to care for our world is to give them incredible, interesting and delightful experiences with the animals,” Schumaker said.
This reporting is made possible by a grant from the Indianapolis African-American Quality of Life Initiative, empowering our community with essential health insights. https://iaaqli.org/
Contact Health & Environmental Reporter Hanna Rauworth at 317-762-7854 or follow her on Instagram at @hanna.rauworth.
Hanna Rauworth is the Health & Environmental Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, where she covers topics at the intersection of public health, environmental issues, and community impact. With a commitment to storytelling that informs and empowers, she strives to highlight the challenges and solutions shaping the well-being of Indianapolis residents.
