A baby orangutan was born by Cesarean section at Zoo Atlanta on Thursday, attended by a team of doctors, including those more accustomed to working with humans than Sumatran apes.
Dr. Brad Moore, a North Atlanta obstetrician, and his partner, Dr. Bryan Jewell, performed the actual C-section, with the assistance of a team of animal doctors, led by Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services at the zoo. The infant was cared for by a team of neo-natologists from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
The mother, a 16-year-old Sumatran orangutan named Blaze, was perhaps 10 days shy of full term, zoo officials said.
Blaze has given birth once before, about two years ago, to an infant that died during delivery. Lawson said the small size of the mother, who weighs less than 100 pounds, and the large size of the baby probably contributed to that infant’s distress
That death convinced zoo officials that both Blaze and the infant could be in jeopardy as a result of this pregnancy. For this reason, the zoo decided to schedule a C-section rather than depend on a natural birth, Lawson said, and trained Blaze to voluntarily participate in ultrasound testing.
At about 11:30 a.m. the healthy but sleepy baby orangutan was delivered, still under the influence of the anesthesia used on the mother.
The male infant, who is still unnamed, was fed a small mouthful of colostrum, a vitamin-packed element of breast milk, collected from the mother during the birth process. He demonstrated a vigorous sucking response, said the zoo’s deputy director Dwight Lawson.
“It was very rewarding to use our human neonatal skills to deliver this orangutan newborn safely, and we were glad to find that many of those skills translated seamlessly across species,” said Dr. Sandy Jun, of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. “It is not something we will forget.”
Both mother and infant were doing well, he said, adding that the infant will be returned to his mother as soon as possible, possibly on Friday, so they can continue bonding.
The operation was performed at a veterinary clinic attached to the gorilla holding area at the zoo. A 200-pound male named Benny is the father of the new orangutan. Both Benny and Blaze arrived in Atlanta in 2010.
Moore, who has performed countless C-sections on humans, was surprised at how orangutan anatomy was “almost identical” to human anatomy, except hairier.
Lawson said Thursday’s operation was only the third time a C-section had been performed on an orangutan. The others he said were emergency interventions.
About the Author
