As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I went to the Denver Zoo Monday afternoon to take a few photographs, and was hoping to get a snapshot of Siska, the baby orangutan born to mother Eirina and father Berani. I was not able to get a decent shot the last time I was there, and this time I only got a side view, as seen in the photograph on the left. Siska is now 6 months old, and yet still, its mother holds her in her arms 24/7, unlike the mother of the new orangutan baby, who I once saw hold out her newborn in front of zoo visitors for everyone to see. Now THAT is a proud mother. As for Siska, it took until the end of December for zoo caretakers to get close enough to get a hair sample for a paternity test. Evidently, there were two male orangutans who could have been the father, and it was none other than talk show host Maury Povich who announced the results of that test. Since he is involved, I imagine that there are probably lawsuits and controversies involved in all of this. Even orangutans have complicated lives these days.
As for the father, Berani, I took the photograph of him on the right hanging out in a hammock with who I assume is Cerah, now 5 years old and also fathered by Berani. Sadly, Cerah's mother died soon after she was born, and Berani took over the child raising duties, to the surprise of everyone, especially zoo caretakers, since this is unheard of in the wild. That is probably why she likes to hang out with her dad so much. In any case, it was a fun day at the zoo, sunny with temperatures in the 60s, although with a bit of wind. Yesterday, of course, there was a morning snowstorm, and it was cold as hell, so I believe all the orangutans were inside the ape house, keeping warm and watching Animal Planet on cable television. Do you think living at the zoo has spoiled these creatures? Nah. No way.
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