An orangutan at the Dublin Zoo has received a little help from a group of about 30 Irish mothers who have gathered to demonstrate how to breastfeed. The orangutan earlier had trouble breastfeeding her infants, so the moms through glass enclosures showed the orangutan mother their own techniques. Orangutans can breastfeed their young for up to eight years, according to zookeeper Jessica Gring at the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia. Gring herself demonstrated to an orangutan there how to breastfeed with her own baby, per an ABC article from 2023. "They'll stay with them for about eight years, because they're very slow to develop," Gring said. "So they will continue to nurse upwards of eight years and then they'll continue to visit Now in Dublin, 19-year-old zoo orangutan Mujur, who delivered a healthy boy July 31, is getting some help from the local moms, said Dublin Zoo officials, the Irish Times. The moms have been coming regularly for the past few months. About four women come each day.When Mujur gave birth in 2019 and 2022 both her babies died because she didn’t “exhibit the necessary maternal qualities.’’Something new had to be tried this time around, said zoo officials. They sent out a call to local mothers hoping some would be willing to come show the orangutan mother how it’s done. . “You find yourself rooting for (Mujur),’’ volunteer Nora Murphy told the Irish Times. Murphy added she looks forward to telling her child the story when she grows up.“You are going from being a mother yourself to trying to help a mother-to-be. You would be talking to her, saying, ‘Look, this is what you are meant to do,’ ” Murphy said.“She would stare at you really looking at what you were doing. She was hand-expressing as time went on, which was magic.” .Alas, the warm-hearted efforts from the local woman did not pan out. The orangutan still struggled to feed her baby. She had “showed some good maternal care” as an improvement, but it wasn’t enough, because she still wasn't holding him properly. He was separated from her after she continued to struggle putting him in the right position to feed, zoo officials said.Officials added after making the “difficult decision” to separate the baby from his mother, a plan was put in place for workers to feed him before he will be moved to a specialist institution in the UK that has experience hand-raising orangutans. “While we had been hopeful for a better outcome where Mujur could care for the infant effectively, we had also been planning for this scenario,” the zoo said.The baby’s father, Sibu, died in February.Orangutans are categorized as critically endangered species, with a female giving birth only every three to five years. Ireland's National Animal Rights Association (NARA) vehemently questioned the decision to "ship (the orangutan baby) off to the UK.""What a sick, warped thing to do. They could bottle feed him and let her nurture him," NARA posted to social media Monday."She did everything else perfectly. She was holding the baby and looking after (him)."
