WASHINGTON — On a warm afternoon at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, a crowd gathers in the Great Ape House to see a new baby. His mom, a 19-year-old orangutan named Batang, peeks out from an enclosure, snatches some fruit with a long, hairy red arm and makes a quick retreat. The other arm probably holds the small, sleepy infant that many have come to see.
Just a month ago, Redd, a critically endangered Bornean orangutan, was born at the zoo. (He is the first of his species to be born there in 25 years.) Redd’s mom has been busy caring for her precious little redhead: nursing him and keeping him clean and warm.
“They spent the first two weeks sleeping,” animal keeper Amanda Bania said.
More recently, the baby has been making a lot of cute faces, she said.
Orangutans are the largest arboreal (tree-dwelling) species on Earth: Adult males weigh about 200 pounds. Staff members at the zoo named him Redd to honor his species, which is known as the “red ape.”
Redd’s job is to eat and grow. He’ll be dependent on his mom until he’s about 8 years old. But from the minute he was born, the infant has had an important job: as an ambassador for his species. Orangutans may become the first of the ape species to go extinct during our lifetime if people continue to destroy the Southeast Asian tropical rain forests where wild orangutans live.
Redd will help educate tens of thousands of people who visit the zoo about the importance of his species and how to help save wild orangutans. He will also join the group of breeding orangutans in U.S. zoos.
