Ape love has once again brought offspring to Dresden Zoo. Female orangutan Daisy presumably gave birth to her fourth cub last Sunday, continuing the long tradition of rearing these great apes in Dresden. "Daisy is an experienced mother and behaves calmly and relaxed. The as yet unnamed female cub is drinking, sleeping and, according to the zookeepers, is apparently in good general health," the zoo announced.
In order not to jeopardize a stable bond between mother and child, father Toni is currently still separated from both of them in a side enclosure. Like the older females Djudi and Djaka, Toni is very interested in the new addition to the family and maintains eye contact with mother and cub through the bars, it was reported. The orangutan house remains open to visitors so that, with a bit of luck, you can catch a glimpse of the baby ape. However, Daisy likes to keep her young hidden in cardboard boxes and wood wool.
Orangutans are critically endangered in the wild
The tradition of orangutan breeding in Dresden dates back to the 1920s. So far, 33 young animals have been born here. Orangutans (Malay: forest dwellers) are endangered. As a result of deforestation on Sumatra and Borneo in South-East Asia, the habitat of the animals, which live exclusively on trees, has drastically shrunk. According to the Dresden Zoo, there were still around 85,000 animals living in the wild on Sumatra at the beginning of the 20th century; in 2016 there were only 14,000.
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