SEATTLE — A nearly 50-year-old old female orangutan who was known for her inquisitiveness and easygoing nature died while recovering from a surgical procedure, according to Woodland Park Zoo.
Melati, who lived at the zoo for nearly five decades, would have turned 50 on Dec. 27 and was the oldest orangutan living at the zoo. The median life expectancy for orangutans is 28 years; in zoos, orangutans are now living in to their 40s and 50s because of the evolving field of zoo medicine, which includes geriatric care.
She had two offspring, 32-year-old Heran and 40-year-old Belawan, who both still live at the Seattle zoo. Melati was best known to visitors as the nosy orangutan, said Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo.
“She would often look inside purses or bags that were close to the exhibit window and point to items that she wanted to see up close,” he said in the zoo’s announcement of her death. “One of her favorite enrichments was a soapy bucket and sponge, which she would use to ‘scrub’ her floors.”
Orangutans, a critically endangered species, belong to the family Hominidae, which includes all four great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans. The three species of orangutans are found only in Southeast Asia: the Bornean orangutan native to the island of Borneo, and Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans native to the island of Sumatra. Overpopulation, logging, agriculture, conversion of forests to unsustainable oil palm plantations, and other human activities are rapidly destroying forest environments required by orangutans for survival, according to the zoo.
Melati had significant disease in her reproductive organs and had undergone surgery to remove possibly cancerous growths in the uterus and left ovary, the zoo said.
As is standard procedure, the zoo’s animal health team will perform a postmortem exam to further diagnose factors that may have contributed to Melati’s decline. The zoo will share the results nationally with colleague scientists to help advance the understanding of medical issues in orangutans.
