14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, a 27-year-old orangutan living in captivity at Como Zoo in Minnesota, US, delivered a perfectly healthy baby. The young primate, featured in the photos in the gallery below, was born on January 7.
What's interesting is that, to deliver its baby, 27-year-old Markisa needed help from a team made up of as many as 15 veterinarians, human obstetricians and other medical experts. Thus, the baby orangutan was born via C-section.
The intervention was carried out at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center and was not the first Markisa has until now been through. As detailed by its caretakers, this orangutan has until now delivered one other baby with the help of vets.
“C-sections are very rare in that there are only about a dozen recorded within the International Orangutan Studbook that has tracked more than 1,200 births in captivity,” explains keeper Megan Elder, as cited by Zoo Borns.
Not long after birth, both the 27-year-old orangutan and its offspring returned to Como Zoo. The two currently live separately, which means that zoo staff are the ones in charge of looking after the baby primate and feeding it.
The good news is that, should all go well, the family will soon be reunited. In order for this to happen, the mother and the young orangutan must first get used to being around one another. Caretakers expect that Markisa will be ready and willing to take care of its offspring a few weeks from now.
