An extra dose of spring sunshine will arrive at the Denver Zoo in the coming months, with Sumatran orangutan and first-time mom , zoo officials said this week.
Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance officials announced Hesty’s pregnancy on Thursday and said the baby’s father, Jaya, will also be a first-time parent.
“This is an exciting milestone for the critically endangered species and an extra special moment for us as Hesty was born at DZCA in 2010 and is now becoming a mom herself,” zoo officials wrote in a post on Facebook.
Jaya, who moved to the zoo in 2019, and Hesty have spent time together in the past few years as part of a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums species survival plan.
“While there are always risks with first-time pregnancies, our expert teams are carefully preparing for Hesty’s birthing window and are ready to provide support if needed,” zoo leaders said Thursday. “Hesty required brief assist-rearing as an infant before reuniting with her mother, so our teams are planning for every possibility to give both mom and baby the best start.”
Hesty is in her late second trimester, and her due date is in late May, according to the zoo.
have similar gestation cycles to humans – between 260 and 270 days, compared to 280 days for humans – and usually give birth to a single baby weighing 3 to 4.5 pounds, according to the DZCA.
Orangutans carry around their babies for the first two or three years and continue to nurse them until they are six or seven years old.
