Birth is a wonderous thing regardless of whether it is a human or animal. So, when an orangutan at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust had a baby, the staff at the Jersey Zoo made sure to capture it all on camera.

Fortunately, mother and baby were fine, but they did give viewers an amazing look into the life of these wonderful animals.

Catching the whole event on camera

The video was the first time that an orangutan had been captured giving birth on camera. The mother, a 25-year-old orangutan named Dana, had suffered complications from a previous pregnancy. During that pregnancy, Dana’s baby had been stillborn and she was considered infertile afterward.

A bad first pregnancy

It was with excitement that zoo staff announced that Dana was pregnant once again. This was after the head obstetrician at Jersey General Hospital worked to help clear her blocked fallopian tubes, which had led to her previous failed pregnancy.

Filming the pregnancy

The baby’s father was an orangutan named Dagu, a 28-year-old orangutan who lived at the zoo along with Dana. When the day finally arrived for her to give birth, a camera was set up to capture the historic event.

There was also a professional team there who observed Dana giving birth from afar.

The graphic video goes viral

In the graphic video, which has been viewed over 4.8 million times, Dana immediately steps into the role of mom after her baby, a girl, is born. As she cradles the baby, she uses her mouth to clean her, removing the amniotic sac. As she does so, the baby begins to screech as it first comes into the world.

At this point, Dagu starts to screech as well, as the parents welcome their baby into the world. Soon, Dana moves over to where the observers are watching and shows them her baby, proud to be a momma after all of this time.

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust was excited about the miracle birth. As Dana made her way to show the observers her newborn baby, one of the zookeepers exclaimed in the video:

“This is amazing, she’s come to show us the baby — that is fantastic!”

Other animals at the Jersey Zoo

The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust works to protect the various species within the zoo from extinction through many different efforts. So, Dana’s miracle birth was joyous news to the staff at the zoo.

The baby was named Keajaiban, or Kea for short, by the zoo staff. Her name means “miracle,” which is exactly what she was. For more of the animals at the zoo, check out Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Instagram page.

You can see more of Dana’s miracle birth in the video below.

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Source: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

H/T: Animal Channel, Durrell.org