Indonesia Animal supermom: orangutan adopts friend's child

Animal rights activists report an amazing story of friendship among great apes from the jungles of Borneo: A female orangutan once rescued from Thailand has adopted her best friend's baby daughter in addition to her own baby.

This after she disappeared without a trace in the rainforest. "It was absolutely new to me that an orangutan would look after someone else's baby as if it were her own," said babysitter Mama Eva, who works for the Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) foundation and keeps an eye on the offspring at the rescue center.

But right from the start: The female Du was snatched from her mother as a newborn and smuggled illegally from Borneo to Thailand. Here, the primate was kept in a theme park before being returned to her home country in 2006 together with 47 other primates. When she finally arrived at the BOS rescue center Nyaru Menteng, she was ten years old and already too old for rehabilitation and a life in complete freedom. "But she was fit and smart and so she was allowed to move to a pre-release island shortly after her quarantine," reports BOS.

Great mother right from the start

Here, three years after her return home, she gave birth to her first daughter Dea and immediately proved to be a great orang mom. Dea was even released into the wild in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park in 2019. Her second daughter Dinda was born in 2016, followed by son Dai in October 2022. Around the same time, her close friend Melata also gave birth to a baby - little Dumel.

Melata had also been rescued from Thailand. And it wasn't her first child either - but fate struck hard: after the birth of her son Melano in 2013, she gave birth to two more children, both of whom died shortly after birth. With daughter Dumel, maternal happiness seemed to have returned - but then something must have happened.

Melata was last seen in February 2023, with Dumel clutching her stomach. Shortly afterwards, a male orangutan was spotted with Dumel in his arms. The following day, it was another male orangutan carrying the baby.

Inseparable friends

At this point, you stepped in. As if it was the most normal thing in the world, she was suddenly carrying Dumel alongside her son Dai - and protecting her from the encroaching males. "The thought that Du, who had an inseparable friendship with Melata since they first met, took her daughter Dumel into her arms out of love for her lost friend is heartwarming," said babysitter mom Eva.

Twin births are a big exception for orangutans. For the mothers, raising even a single baby is hard work. They only have babies every six to eight years - the longest birth interval among great apes. To help you, the little family was temporarily brought back to the Nyaru Menteng rescue center.