Second orangutan ever born in Belgium arrives at Pairi Daiza

A baby orangutan was born at Pairi Daiza animal park yesterday, only the second of the species of the great ape to ever be born in Belgium. The first birth was in the 1970s at the Antwerp Zoo.

While the sex is not yet known, the baby has already been named Sungai, which means ‘river’ in Indonesian. The caretakers at the animal park in Brugelette chose the name because mother Sinta is very fond of playing in water.

“The mother is enormously protective of her baby,” zoological director Tim Bouts told VRT, “so we can’t yet tell if it’s a boy or a girl. We’ll only know the first time we see it urinate, but that could take a few days – or weeks.”

The baby was born sometime in the middle of the night. The caretakers were not aware of the birth when it happened because the baby came a little earlier than expected. But mother and baby both seem fine, Bouts said. The public won’t be able to see Sungai just yet, but Bouts hopes that will be possible by next week.

The new addition brings the number of Sumatran orangutans (P. abelii) at Pairi Daiza to six. They have all come from breeding programmes on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. There are three species of orangutan, and all are classified as critically endangered.

Photo: a glimpst of Sinta and baby Sungai
(c) Courtesy Pairi Daiza/Twitter