‘Very special’ orangutan born which may spark new era of the species
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“very special” child orangutan, whose delivery may kickstart a brand new era of the critically endangered species, has been proven off by his proud mom.
The five-week-old, but to be named, is Blackpool Zoo’s first Bornean orangutan child for greater than 20 years and has boosted conservation efforts.
On Saturday his mom, Jingga, 13, thrilled guests to the Lancashire vacationer attraction by holding him in direction of the viewing home windows along with her arms outstretched and head bowed.
The child, who will keep together with his mom till he’s about seven years outdated so he can develop the abilities wanted to be impartial, smiled by way of the glass as guests murmured excitedly and filmed on their cell phones.
He was born as a part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) and described as “very special” by keepers after they introduced his delivery in June.
Zoo boss Darren Webster mentioned: “The arrival of this very special baby is wonderful news, not just for us here at Blackpool Zoo, but for the species too.”
He added: “The Bornean orangutan was classified as critically endangered in July 2016 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“This means that this species now faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
“This makes breeding programmes such as the EEP absolutely vital, and we are hoping that this is the start of a new generation of beautiful Bornean orangutans here at Blackpool Zoo.”
The arrival of this very particular child is great news, not only for us right here at Blackpool Zoo, however for the species too
Jingga arrived on the zoo from her birthplace, Barcelona, in 2017.
The child’s father, Kawan, additionally 13, arrived from a Dutch zoo in 2022 and was picked to kind a breeding group after talks with EEP specialists and specialist keepers.
Blackpool Zoo has been on the centre of a number of massive conservation tasks just lately.
In May it welcomed three new lionesses to maintain its sole lion Khari firm in a brand new £1.5 million massive cat habitat, the place a male tiger additionally joined tigress Alyona earlier this month.
In 2019 it launched male Asian elephant Emmett to its parade of females within the hope of producing a “multi-generational herd”.