A Sumatran orangutan has given birth to a baby girl at Dam Sen Cultural Park in Ho Chi Minh City, park authorities announced Sunday.
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| A Sumatran orangutan and her newborn baby girl at Dam Sen Cultural Park in HCMC |
A Sumatran orangutan has given birth to a baby girl at Dam Sen Cultural Park in Ho Chi Minh City, park authorities announced Sunday.
The extremely rare and endangered orangutan gave birth at the theme park after nearly nine months of pregnancy. Both mother and child are in good health.
Park authorities said three orangutans – one female and two males – were brought to the park in 1994.
Sumatran and Bornean orangutans are the only two exclusively Asian species of extant great apes. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, free orangutans are currently found only in the wild rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
The Sumatran orangutan grows to about 1.4 meters tall and 90 kilograms in males. Females are smaller, averaging 90 centimeters and 45 kilograms.
Compared to the Bornean species, Sumatran orangutans are thinner and have longer faces. They are also rarer.
The species has been identified as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 2000. IUCN considers the mammal one of "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates."
(Source: TNNews)
