30 human moms attempted to teach orangutan how to breastfeed. Did it work?

An Irish zoo enlisted 30 human mothers in hopes of teaching a Bornean orangutan how to nurse its newborn.

According to the Dublin Zoo, Mujur had given birth in 2019 and 2022 to orangutans. Unfortunately, the baby orangutans died after the mother was not able to provide the infants with proper nursing.

As Mujur prepared to give birth for a third time, zoo officials brought in 30 mothers to show Mujur how to breastfeed. The moms spent months showing Mujur how to properly breastfeed, hoping the orangutan would develop her maternal instincts.

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Zoo officials said that Mujur was "extremely interested" in watching the women. The Dublin Zoo said that Mujur showed "good maternal care" for her newborn.

Unfortunately, however, Mujur was unable to put her newborn in the proper feeding position for nursing. Although zoo officials said they generally don't interfere with nature, because the newborn's father died before being born, zookeepers stepped in and began caring for the child.

"As is international best practice, we do not typically intervene in these situations to ensure conditions are as natural as possible," the zoo said. "However, given the importance of this infant and his genetic profile inherited from his father Sibu, the difficult decision was made to separate the infant from Mujur and commence bottle feeding him. The Dublin Zoo animal care team is currently looking after the infant around the clock and bottle feeding him, and all involved are extremely proud to be playing a part in the infant’s development."

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The zoo said that Bornean orangutans are critically endangered and that moms are generally only capable of giving birth once every three to five years.

According to the World Wildlife Federation, Bornean orangutan populations have declined by more than 50% over the past 60 years. The organization also said their habitat has been cut in half in the last 20 years.

The organization estimates there are 104,700 Bornean orangutans remaining in the world.