My sister and I made a stop at the Lowry Park Zoo while she was visiting from South Dakota. When we got to the primate section, there was a zoo employee with a long lens taking pictures of an orangutan in the back of the exhibit. It’s not often you see employees out with a big camera taking pictures of the animals so I took a closer look and realized she was holding something.  Is that a head tucked under her arm???

The head finally moved and it was a baby!  The baby orangutan was born 2 days earlier on 12/20. It was amazing to see the mother holding the baby like that.

This was the mother’s fourth baby so she is an expert. One of the siblings came over to check things out.

It was amazing to watch the baby climb around on Mom.

The baby started nursed for a while. This was a great treat to see the newborn baby the week of Christmas. Orangutans are endangered due to loss of habitat from palm oil plantations.  You can read more about the family and the baby’s birth at Lowry Park Zoo here.