00:00So this morning we're out in front of the orangutan exhibit here at the San Diego
00:08Zoo and we're trying to get some great footage of our young Sumatran orang Aisha.
00:13Aisha is almost eight and a half months old. We're seeing a lot of behaviors with her.
00:18She's always been very curious about her surroundings and very observant and she
00:24is trying all sorts of food anything that she can put in her mouth she's definitely trying it out.
00:29So that's a good thing. But yeah mom is now allowing her to take some of the fruit. Fruit is a very
00:35favorite food item so a lot of times mom wasn't sharing but now mom is sharing. Today on exhibit
00:42the orangutans got bamboo and jello in the bamboo. This allows the orangutans to tool use and use
00:51their enrichment for a longer period of time and Inda definitely likes it. They'll use sticks to grab
00:57and get the bamboo out and this is a great learning experience for the baby also. She'll be watching
01:03mom. As she gets older mom will start actively teaching her.
01:06Inda will swing horizontally on the rope. She is really the only orangutan I've seen do that. So it is a
01:19behavior that she really likes. So it definitely looks like she's rocking her. So it'll be interesting to
01:24see when Aisha gets older if she'll do that same behavior that she learned from mom. Will be interesting
01:28to see if she likes it to become an adult that does it too. We will see Aisha leave mom on her own and
01:34climb around the ropes and climbing structure on her own. And then other times we'll see mom place the
01:40baby into the hammock or physically try and put the baby away from her. And that could be a couple of
01:47things. It could be that mom wants her to have more time climbing around and building those muscles and
01:53gaining strength and confidence. And it could just be that mom wants some alone time and it's hot and
01:58she doesn't want a baby clinging to her. So it's all kind of just up for interpretation of why she's
02:03doing it but both reasons are very valid reasons. So we're all very excited to see Aisha grow and develop,
02:13but it'll be a slow process. Orangutan babies do stay with their moms almost exclusively for three to
02:19four years before they really even start venturing and up to eight years before they leave their mom.
02:24So it'll be a very slow process.
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