Sunday Observer PLUS

Sukeefo attracts large crowds to Dehiwala Zoo

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Dimuhtu Tharinda (6) from Uva-Paranagama has named the new orangutan baby at the Dehiwala Zoo as ‘Sukeefo’. The new orangutan baby was a pleasant surprise to all those who visited the Dehiwala Zoo last Thursday. Today ‘Sukeefo’ is one and a half months old and growing up steadily and people can see him with the mother daily from 8.30 a.m. till noon.

Last Thursday, authorities of the National Zoological Gardens provided an opportunity to visitors to name the little cub. Thus little Dimuthu Tharinda, who was visiting the zoo with his parents, proposed a name to the orangutan cub. The twelve-year-old ‘Aki’ - the mother orangutan - would not release the little fellow from her safety grip. ‘Aki’ was brought to the zoo when she was about two and a half years old.

The cub stays clinging on to the mother as a part of her body - not even the caretaker could hold the baby for few minutes. “That is the way the orangutan mother protects its baby. Sometimes the father or the other male animals in the herd may try to harm the cub. The mother can be aggressive in protect its baby,” Veterinary Surgeon Jagath Jayasekara said explaining the behavioral patterns of the new mother.

The Veterinary Surgeons have difficulty in examining the health conditions of the cub. “In such cases the standard practice is to take close up pictures of the cub and examine the colour of the eyes, lips, nose and take its body measurements. With this we can determine its growth,” Jayasekara said.

The mother is given additional nourishment to help her feed the baby. “Though orangutans are mostly herbivorous animals they are actually omnivorous. So we are giving the mother eggs and cheese in addition to her usual fruit diet,” he added.

“Examining the faecal matter, urine of the baby and the mother we can determine their health conditions,” he further explained.

The baby orangutan is an attraction to visitors not because it was born after 28 years and it was on

public display for the first time at Dehiwala Zoo. ‘Sukeefo’ is important as it is a valuable addition to the group of great apes native to Indonesia and Malaysia which are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutan, in Malay means the man of the forest. It is the largest living arboreal animal with longer arms than other great apes.

Their hair is reddish-brown instead of the brown or black hair typical to other great apes. There are only two species surviving in the family of apes belonging to the primates. They are the Borneo orangutan (‘Pongo pygmaeus’) and the Sumatran orangutan (‘Pongo abelli’). The latter is considered as critically endangered. Two generation of the orangutan family (Sub Family - ‘Poingnae’) have already gone extinct.

A 2007 study by the Government of Indonesia noted in 2004 estimated that there was a total wild population of 61,234 orangutans, 54,567 of which were found on the island of Borneo.

The Sumatran species is critically endangered and the Bornean species of orangutans is endangered according to the IUCN Red List of mammals. The total number of Bornean orangutans is estimated to be less than 14 percent of what it was in the recent past (from around 10,000 years ago until the middle of the twentieth century) and this sharp decline has occurred mostly over the past few decades due to human activities and development.

Species distribution is now highly patchy throughout Borneo: it is apparently absent or uncommon in the south-east of the island, as well as in the forests between the Rejang River in central Sarawak and the Padas River in western Sabah (including the Sultanate of Brunei).

“We are extremely happy to be the owners of such a rare occasion and being able to contribute towards the ex-situ conservation of animals of the world,” said Bashwara Gunarathne, Director of the National Zoological Gardens and Director General of the Economic Development Ministry.

‘Sukeefo’ is extremely lucky considering the fact that thousands of orangutans don’t reach adulthood due to human disruption. Orangutans are killed for food while others are killed because of disruption to properties.

Mother orangutans are killed so their infants can be sold as pets. Many of the infants die without the help of their mother.

Several hundred Bornean orangutan orphans who were confiscated by local authorities have been entrusted to different orphanages in Malaysia and Indonesia and are trained to live in the wild.

“We are concerned not only about one species but of upgrading the entire zoo and its services to international standards,” Gunarathne added.

Today the Dehiwala Zoo conserve 3,500 animals belonging to 350 species. “Under the instructions of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa we are developing the infrastructure of the zoo specially expanding the space for the animals,” he added.

“The staff is very dedicated and caring for the animals but that itself seems to be not necessary when considering certain postmortems done on several dead animals few months back,” Gunarathne said explaining a stunning situation. “We need the public who visit the zoo to have same kindness and love to these innocent creatures. Which unfortunately does not happen at times,” he explained.

According to the Director some people are throwing coins, blades and such harmful items to the animals and unknowingly these animals swallow. It is a very tragic situation and the zoo authorities are taking extra efforts to educate and make people aware of the negative impacts of such inhumane actions.

Targeting the school vacations the officials have launched a new program to educate the visitors along with some entertainment specially to the children.