A male Sumatran orangutan has defied the “absent father” role of his wild counterpart by stepping up to care for his 2-year-old daughter after her mother died unexpectedly in a zoo in Colorado.
Female orangutan Nias, who lived at Colorado’s Denver Zoo for fifteen years, passed away on Dec. 17, 2020, at the age of 32. The matriarch is survived by her two daughters, Hesty, aged 10, Cerah, aged 2, and her mate, Berani.
“In the wild, orangutan males are not involved with their offspring,” Denver Zoo posted on Facebook nearly a month after Nias passed away. “To see Berani step up as Mr. Mom is an extremely rare situation, and Cerah couldn’t have asked for a better dad.”
Zookeepers felt “so fortunate” that the young orangutan’s father had “stepped up to the plate.” Protective and attentive to Cerah’s needs, Berani began carrying her, comforting her, and even cuddling with her while she slept.
Big sister Hesty, Berani’s stepdaughter, is also helping him take care of Cerah after both the siblings lost their mom. “This family group is particularly special because it’s highly unusual for adult male orangutans to accept unrelated offspring as their own,” the zoo wrote on their website.
Nias first became part of Denver Zoo’s Great Apes exhibit in November 2005, giving birth to both of her babies at the zoo. In a Facebook post, zoo officials praised Nias for her tremendous growth as a mother between the two births, recalling Nias first watching Hesty like a hawk after her birth.
Besides being a nurturing mother, a wonderful mate to Berani, and a “fiercely loyal friend” to her care team, zoo officials also thought of their “Queen Bee” as an ambassador for the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan.
Denver Zoo’s partners at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Services are hoping to find out why Nias passed away suddenly. Orangutans in captivity have an average lifespan of 60 years, according to National Geographic.
Meanwhile, in the zoo’s Great Apes enclosure, the family of three, Berani, Hesty, and Cerah are “sticking together and moving forward,” said officials.
(Courtesy of Denver Zoo)