Orangutan displays newborn in rare video that’s the first to capture her species giving birth
Birth is one of the greatest miracles of nature.
And while this celebration of human life has always been a key part of our traditions, we tend to take for granted how life is created by species beyond ourselves.
From the emergence of the young to its first breath and its first cry, a few of us are blessed enough to have witnessed such a moment. But thanks to technology, we can be treated to a rarely seen event – and this one involves the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan.
The team from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust posted Dana’s delivery on their YouTube channel.
And while we have all seen how dogs, cats, horses, and other domesticated animals give birth, seeing this for maybe the first time for most of us is truly fascinating.
Dana, a 25-year-old orangutan, squats on her perch to give her young the space to emerge.
A few seconds after, the head of the young primate slowly exits her body.
She’s the mother, the nurse, and the midwife.
As seen on the rest of the footage, when the baby started crying, Dana was quick to eat the amniotic material off the baby’s airways. In the end, she delivered, dressed, and did the umbilical care all by herself.
But this event is also a miracle for another reason.
On their website, the team shared that Dana suffered pregnancy complications last 2009. She lost her baby in the process and the complications put her life at risk. To make matters even more concerning, they also found out that Dana’s fallopian tubes were blocked which rendered her infertile.
But in 2012, Dana successfully got pregnant even when the odds were stacked against her.
The team of doctors and keepers collaborated through the process to make sure that they could give Dana the best chance to carry out a full-term pregnancy.
We can only imagine how proud they all are of Dana when she approached the staff and showed off her baby. She’s named “Keajaiban” or “Kea” for short. It means “miracle” in Indonesian.
This is one of the first videos of an orangutan giving birth.
And it might be the last if things don’t change for the better.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, only seven of the nine existing orangutan populations have the chance to survive long-term. The biggest threat to their existence is the destruction of their habitat.
Orangutans are arboreal primates, which means they live on trees.
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But with forests being leveled to make room for more palm oil plantations, their survival is put at a greater risk.
Dana stands as a testament to the resiliency of her species.
Even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, their will to survive is greater than we could have anticipated.
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Watch this rare and beautiful moment in the video below.
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Source: YouTube – Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, WWF, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Instagram – @durrell_jerseyzoo