One Month Old and Growing Strong!
Now more than one month old, Dumadi, the zoo’s baby orangutan, is growing bigger and stronger every day. Dumadi has gained more than a pound since he was born on October 22 and now weighs 5.5 pounds. Two weeks ago, Dumadi moved from his temporary home in the zoo’s Veterinary Hospital to one of the bedrooms adjacent to the Orangutan Valley exhibit. There, he can see Tengku, the zoo’s adult male orangutan, and Melati, the zoo’s adult female. “Tengku and Melati are both very curious about this little guy,” says zoo keeper Angie Baldwin, noting that for now, the adults remain separated from Dumadi by a steel mesh window. Dumadi’s mother Sayang died unexpectedly just one hour after he was born. The exact cause of Sayang’s death is not known, despite extensive testing and a necropsy (similar to an autopsy). Dumadi spends 24 hours a day clinging to a zoo keeper, much the same as a wild orangutan would cling to its mother. Zoo keepers wear a special vest covered in soft tassels, giving Dumadi plenty of handholds for grasping. “Orangutans rarely let go of their mother for the first year of life,” says Animal Curator Mark Weldon. Zoo keepers are evaluating Melati as a potential surrogate mother for Dumadi. Over the next few months, they’ll train Melati to work with a stuffed animal to see if she exhibits any maternal behaviors. If she is deemed a suitable surrogate, she’ll carry Dumadi around and bring him to zoo keepers at feeding time. Until then, zoo keepers are content to spend their days (and nights) with Dumadi as he grows.
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