St. Louis — The baby orangutan that was born at the Saint Louis Zoo, the first in nine years, now has a name. His name is Forest. He was named that by the Primate Care team in honor of their Malaysian conservation partner, HUTAN, a grassroots nonprofit organization working to help orangutans in the wild. According to the Saint Louis Zoo, Hutan translates to “forest” in the Malay language and “orangutan” means person of the forest.
The announcement was celebrated with Forest’s parents, Rubih and Cinta. The Primate Care Team gave them some items to discover in their ape habitat. The name was presented on six bags that held snacks inside the paper bags.
The Saint Louis Zoo says that Rubih is natural at being a mother, very protective and attentive to her young infant. She carries him around and she never leaves him alone. Rubih is starting to let other orangutans in the family start to meet the young baby as well.
At times, Rubih may choose to spend part of her day in the orangutan dayroom at the Jungle of the Apes, offering guests a potential glimpse of the pair; however, there is no set schedule for these appearances.
