A heartwarming story is breaking headlines across the world. Some mothers don their superhero capes as they rush to the Dublin Zoo to help a new parent. However, this new parent may not be what you expect; she is an orangutan. That's right; this new mom is a primate and needed some help learning the basics of being a mommy. Specifically, she didn't know how to breastfeed. Luckily, some moms from the local area took on the job of being her instructor. Watch as these moms teach an orangutan to breastfeed.
Moms Teach Orgautan How To Breastfeed
The Dublin Zoo released an exciting statement about the birth of their new baby orangutan. They stated, "On the 31st of July, Dublin Zoo's 19-year-old orangutan, Mujur, gave birth to a healthy male infant." Although this is an exciting time, there is also a large pressure on this new mother and infant's shoulders.
The zoo also shares that "Orangutans are a critically endangered species, with females typically only giving birth every 3 to 5 years, to one infant at a time." While this is not Mujur's first birth, zookeeps are optimistic that this round of motherhood will be more successful for the primate. They mention how Mujur had previously given birth to two infants back in 2019 and 2022. However, "Mujur did not exhibit the necessary maternal qualities, and both infants passed away not long after birth."
Determined not to let that happen again, the Dublin Zoo contacted the community to help. They began "a lactation learning process," asking women to come in and demonstrate how they breastfed their babies. The NY Post shares that about 30 women signed up to participate in the process. All of these moms helped teach the orangutan to breastfeed.
The zoo had about four women a day who came in and demonstrated, through the glass, exactly how they breastfed their baby to Mujur. Many women opted to take off their shirts and show Mujur exactly what was going on in the process. The Irish Times claimed many women said, "Look, an orangutan doesn't wear a T-shirt," which prompted them to remove theirs.
Mujur Learns Motherly Habits
Screenshot from Dublin Zoo Facebook
These moms helped teach this orangutan to breastfeed, and while she was a dedicated pupil, she never fully reached the breastfeeding stage. During the process, many of the mothers saw such great attentive behavior from Mujur. Nora Murphy, one of the volunteers, told the Irish Times, "She would stare at you, really looking at what you were doing. She was hand-expressing as time went on, which was magic."
Although there was progress, and Mujur did begin showing maternal signs, she could not get the baby to latch. The Dublin Zoo claims, "She was not putting him in the right position for feeding." While it is not typical to intervene in a situation like this, the zoo stated, "Given the importance of this infant and his genetic profile inherited from his father, Sibu, the difficult decision was made to separate the infant from Mujur and commence bottle feeding him."
Infant Separated From Mother
Screenshot from Dublin Zoo Facebook
While many support this decision to separate the infant to properly care for it, others argue against it. The National Animal Rights Association took to Facebook to share their thoughts on the matter. Their post read:
"She was bonded with her baby and now Dublin Zoo are shipping him off to the UK? what a sick, warped thing to do. They could bottle feed him and let her nuture him. #ShutDownDublinZoo."
This post refers to the zoo's plan to send the infant to a specialist institution in the UK. On their website, the zoo wrote:
"Hand-rearing the infant until independence is not a long-term option here at Dublin Zoo, so it is our intention to have the infant care for at a specialist institution in the UK which is hugely experienced in hand-raising orangutans."
It appears that while the community response was great, and many moms came together to teach the orangutan to breastfeed, the results were not fully what the zoo had hoped for. No further updates on the infant or mother's progress have been released yet.
