DENVER — There's a new mom on the block at the Denver Zoo.
Hesty, the zoo's 15-year-old Sumatran orangutan, gave birth to a healthy baby boy May 24, the zoo announced Saturday.
The zoo calls the birth "especially exciting" and "a huge conservation win" for the critically endangered species.
Hesty herself was born at the zoo back in 2010, and had what the zoo said was a difficult start after birth, needing support from staff for several weeks before being reunited with her mother.
The zoo worked for years to train Hesty "so she could voluntarily participate in both her own care and her baby’s care if additional support was ever needed."
That preparation included Hesty practicing holding a stuffed baby so she would be ready to nurse and learning to present the baby for bottle feeding in case supplemental feeding was needed, according to past posts from the zoo. She also learned how to voluntarily present her belly for ultrasounds.
"While the team was prepared to step in if difficulties arose, Hesty and her baby boy have successfully figured things out together, and both nursing and bonding are progressing well," the zoo wrote in the announcement.
Assistant Curator Molly Kainuma helped support Hesty in her first weeks of life.
"Watching her become a mother herself nearly 16 years later is incredibly special. Not only does it make those long hours and uncertain moments worthwhile, but it’s also deeply rewarding to see that Hesty learned how to care for an infant from her own mother and from Eirina," Kainuma said in the announcement. "Seeing her naturally demonstrate such strong maternal instincts and resiliency is the very best outcome we could have hoped for."
The zoo said to stay tuned for updates on when baby boy will make his first public appearance. The Great Apes building may be temporarily closed at times throughout the next few weeks to allow time for acclimation, the zoo said.
"As expected for any new mom, Hesty is spending most of her time resting behind the scenes and keeping her baby close as they continue to bond and adjust together," the zoo wrote in the announcement.
You can vote on the baby primate's name here. Options in the running are Rambutan, Oka and Jamartin.
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