Come here and give me a cuddle: Mother and newborn baby orangutan are inseparable
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It’s a girl!
A US zoo has welcomed a new baby to its Bornean orangutan family.
The newborn who has yet to be named is seen here bonding with her mother, Kalim in their enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
Both the mother and baby have both been happily bonding since the birth on Wednesday.
Mother Kalim cradles her precious newborn in the scoop of her left arm
Kalim is one of four adult females in the Red Ape Rainforest.
The new arrival has an older sister, Berani who was born in 2005. Her father is Minyak – one of two orangutan males at the Zoo.
With Halloween coming up, zoo keepers plan to give the family pumpkin treats on Friday, ABC 7 news reported.
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Orangutans have the closest mother-offspring relationships of all non-human primates.
Mother Kalim enjoying a nutritional snack
Kalim enjoys a tomato snack while holding onto her baby who was born on Wednesday
The offspring remain with their mothers for seven or eight years unlike many other species.
Adult males are the most solitary of the apes, whereas females travel with their youngsters and at times with other females as well.
Males grow to about twice the size of the females with an arm span of more than seven feet.
Orangutans are found only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The LA zoo is home to five Bornean orangutans and one Bornean-Sumatran hybrid.
They are endangered due to habitat loss and capture for the illegal pet trade.
Their rainforest homes are rapidly declining due to mining, farming, oil palm plantations, and human overpopulation.
It is estimated that orangutan populations have declined more than 50 percent in the last decade.
The newborn is likely to remain with her mother for around eight years before she fends for herself
