The Secret Life of the Zoo
Why did an orangutan take her sister’s baby?
the arrival of a baby Sumatran orangutan leaves keepers stumped as the documentary series about life at Chester Zoo returns. Orangutan sisters Emma and Subis were both pregnant, then one morning the keepers spotted Emma holding a baby and assumed she had given birth. Subis, meanwhile, still seemed to be pregnant but in discomfort.
Surprise discovery
But when they took Subis in for medical checks, they realised that she had already given birth. They searched the enclosure for a baby and came to the shocking conclusion that Emma was still pregnant and had taken Subis’ baby.
‘Sumatran orangutans are incredible animals but are being pushed to the brink of extinction so every baby is special but this was something we’d not seen before,’ says Dr Nick Davis, deputy curator of mammals at Chester Zoo.
As the keepers tried to work out what had happened, they realised that Subis was taking little interest in her baby, while Emma was treating it as her own.
‘Our immediate concerns were for Subis because she was not herself.
But it became apparent that for some reason Emma had stepped in to look after the baby, which is so unusual,’ says Nick. ‘But working with animals you have to expect the unexpected.’
Baffling
The keepers remain unsure as to exactly why Emma took on Subis’ baby, which sadly passed away not long before Emma’s daughter, Kesuma, was born.
‘We’re still guessing but perhaps Subis had a bad labour and just had to leave the baby, and because Emma has previously been an amazing mum, she took over the baby’s care,’ says lead primate keeper Debi Williams. ‘Orangutans can really empathise with each other.’