Surprise Orangutan Birth Shocks Zookeepers   The Secret Life of the Zoo   Nature Bites - video Dailymotion

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00:00 Clever, aren't you?

00:01 Hey?

00:03 Overnight, Tootie's mum, Subis, has given birth.

00:08 But no one knew she was pregnant.

00:11 It's a shock to big sister Tootie.

00:12 In the wild, the average gap between births

00:18 is around nine years.

00:20 But in captivity, it's a different story.

00:26 The intervals in between births are getting shorter.

00:30 Previously, the record was three years and 11 months

00:34 between babies.

00:36 Subis has managed to smash that record,

00:38 and there's only two years and 10 months

00:41 between the last birth and this.

00:45 The zoo believes that because she's in a safe environment,

00:48 Tootie's mum has felt ready to have another baby.

00:53 What was going through your head that morning?

00:56 95% "Yay, we've got a new orangutan baby,"

01:02 and 5% "Oh, no, we didn't know about it.

01:06 "We're going to look stupid."

01:07 But the early arrival of Tootie's sister

01:14 means she's going to have to grow up quicker than expected.

01:17 I'm going to have mum's attention all the time now.

01:23 So I'm expecting her to be a bit stroppy

01:26 the next couple of days.

01:27 It's been several weeks since the sudden arrival

01:34 of Tootie's little sister, Siska.

01:38 In Tootie's eyes, she's just not

01:40 Subis' centre of attention anymore.

01:42 Her whole world has changed now.

01:47 She's not the happiest individual at the moment.

01:50 (MUSIC)

01:54 And she's begun to feel the lack of attention

01:57 from her normally doting mum.

01:59 Now that Tootie isn't getting so much attention off Subis,

02:05 she'll be finding fun elsewhere.

02:08 Over the following days,

02:10 she starts to look for a new playmate in the group.

02:13 First, Tootie seeks out dad, Pulu.

02:19 He's not a hands-on dad,

02:20 but when the youngsters start growing up

02:22 and eventually start climbing around and playing,

02:26 they do use him as a bit of play apparatus.

02:28 But dad doesn't appear interested,

02:34 so Tootie heads off alone.

02:36 In the wild, orangutans live solitary lifestyles,

02:41 apart from mother and infant bondings.

02:44 (MUSIC)

02:48 Tootie's not yet three,

02:52 a key stage in an orangutan's psychological development.

02:56 Keepers are concerned that if mum continues to ignore her,

02:59 she may not learn the essential skills for survival.

03:02 In the zoo, we want them to have that same experience

03:07 and learn from mum when a second infant's being brought up.

03:12 That's when a female would learn about maternal behaviours.

03:15 Orangutan infants would usually stay with their mums

03:21 for up to 10 years.

03:23 Siska's arrival means that Tootie's going to have to

03:26 grow up that little bit more and a little bit faster.

03:29 This happened a lot sooner than we were expecting.

03:34 (MUSIC)

03:39 It's feeding time for the animals.

03:41 Oh, they're hungry.

03:44 They're hungry.

03:46 In the orangutan enclosure,

03:58 Tootie's family have some unwelcome contact with the orangutans.

04:02 They're not very friendly.

04:04 In the orangutan enclosure,

04:06 Tootie's family have some unwelcome competition from their neighbours.

04:10 (MUSIC)

04:14 The gibbons are very confident,

04:24 probably more confident than they should be,

04:26 more confident than I'd be if I was in the enclosure with the orangutans.

04:30 The gibbons will push it.

04:33 (MUSIC)

04:37 While the younger orangutans fight it out over the juiciest fruit,

04:45 mum Subis waits patiently for a quiet moment.

04:51 If there's a situation where Tootie's a bit unsure about something,

04:55 then she'd definitely go straight to mum and seek her protection.

04:59 (MUSIC)

05:03 To be honest, I was expecting Subis to push Tootie away more.

05:19 Now Siska's arrived.

05:21 (DOG BARKING)

05:23 But she's been really good. She's a good mum.

05:26 In recent days, things have started to improve for Tootie.

05:30 And she now feels confident enough to explore the rest of the enclosure.

05:36 Tootie will be picking up all the tricks of the trade now.

05:40 It'll be a new phase for Tootie,

05:42 and as time goes on, she'll just become her own orangutan.

05:48 (MUSIC)

05:53 (MUSIC)

05:57 (ROAR)

06:02 (MUSIC)

06:06 (MUSIC)

06:10 (MUSIC)

06:14 (MUSIC)

06:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Surprise Orangutan Birth Shocks Zookeepers The Secret Life of the Zoo Nature Bites

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