Cinta and her baby.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre welcomed the birth of three orangutans in the last two weeks.
Their mothers arrived at the centre as young orphans and were successfully rehabilitated at the centre and returned to the forest.
Rosa and her baby
According to a Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) statement, Sepilok has more than 18 reproductive females and has a history of more than 40 wild born babies with a second and third generation.
One of the mothers, Rosa, which is about 16 years old, arrived at Sepilok from lading Syarimo 2 Lahad Datu in 2002 when she was about a year old.
She delivered a healthy female baby on May 26.
The second orangutan to deliver is Cinta, which was brought to Sepilok from Kg Batu Putih Kinabatangan. She gave birth to a female baby orangutan on July 3. Cinta also adopted an orphaned baby monkey before becoming pregnant.
The third orangutan to deliver was Lumiud, a seven-year-old female orangutan from Sukau Kinabantangan. Her name means ‘flood’ and she was rescued by fishermen who saw her stranded on a tree all alone by the river bank.
Lumiud gave birth to a male baby orangutan on July 10.
However, she was separated from her baby after the centre observed problems in her mothering skills.
Lumiud’s baby.
Both mother and baby are now under close observation, with the baby being given 24-hour care by staff from Sepilok.