Rare Baby Orangutan Named At Chester Zoo!
A rare baby Sumatran orangutan has been officially named at Chester Zoo.
Six-week-old female ape Siska, who was born in September to mum Subis, was given her new moniker after staff confirmed she was a girl.
Siska shares her name with a specialist orangutan vet from Indonesia, who first spotted the new baby clinging to her mum on the morning she was born. Vet Siska Sulistyo, who normally works in sanctuaries in South East Asia, has spent three months in Chester working alongside the zoo’s resident veterinary team as part of an initiative to exchange knowledge and skills.
Chris Yarwood, lead keeper at Chester Zoo, said:
“Siska has been named after an Indonesian vet who is spending some time working with our animal health teams here at the zoo. She was the very first person to spot our new arrival the morning she was born, so we thought it was a fitting name particularly given the vital conservation work that her team carry out in South East Asia with a range of endangered species.
“Sumatran orangutans are being pushed dangerously close to extinction every day and, as it stands, they are one of the world’s most endangered species.
“Siska is a very special addition to both the zoo and the European-wide breeding programme which aims to have a healthy safety-net population of the species in case the worst should happen, extinction in the wild.”
It’s estimated that less than 6,500 Sumatran orangutans now remain in the wild as a result of destruction of habitat for logging, wholesale conversion of forest to palm oil plantations, fragmentation caused by roads and hunting.
Siska, alongside mum Subis and the zoo’s other Sumatran orangutans Puluh, Emma, Indah, Tripa and Tuti will all be moving into a brand new home at the zoo’s £40m Islands development later in the year.