How a Secret Orangutan Breeding Program Is Creating a Baby Boom
How a Secret Orangutan Breeding Program Is Creating a Baby Boom
一个秘密的红毛猩猩繁育计划如何引发“婴儿潮”
“It’s a girl!” Melissa Peterson exclaims. Just outside the operating room, the hallway erupts in cheers. Joseph Dewane, an ob-gyn, has just delivered a healthy baby via C-section; Autumn Joi Goodwin-Samson, a neonatalist, tends to the newborn still slick with a waxy film. “是个女孩！”梅丽莎·彼得森（Melissa Peterson）惊呼道。手术室外的走廊里爆发出一阵欢呼。妇产科医生约瑟夫·德韦恩（Joseph Dewane）刚刚通过剖宫产接生了一个健康的婴儿；新生儿科医生奥特姆·乔伊·古德温-萨姆森（Autumn Joi Goodwin-Samson）正在照料身上还覆盖着胎脂的新生儿。
It’s a successful delivery just like any other except for one, minor, difference: The patient is an orangutan. 这是一次和其他手术一样成功的接生，除了一个微小的区别：患者是一只红毛猩猩。
Ruhana—or just “Ru” for short—is one of eight orangutan babies born in a collection of US zoos since the beginning of 2025. For these critically endangered primates, that’s a staggering figure. It’s also not random: The baby boom is the result of a meticulous breeding plan and decades of research to weave a conservation safety net, one birth at a time. 鲁哈娜（Ruhana，简称“Ru”）是自2025年初以来在美国多家动物园出生的八只红毛猩猩幼崽之一。对于这些极度濒危的灵长类动物来说，这是一个惊人的数字。这并非偶然：这场“婴儿潮”是一项精心制定的繁育计划和数十年研究的成果，旨在通过每一次出生，编织一张物种保护的安全网。
“It might seem like it was all a coincidence that everyone was born at the same time, but it was very carefully planned,” says Angie Selzer, a senior animal care specialist with the Fort Wayne Zoo in Indiana and the Orangutan Species Survival Plan (SSP) program coordinator. “大家在同一时间出生看起来可能像是巧合，但其实是经过非常仔细的规划的，”印第安纳州韦恩堡动物园的高级动物护理专家、红毛猩猩物种生存计划（SSP）项目协调员安吉·塞尔泽（Angie Selzer）说。
The SSP has been coordinating breeding recommendations since 1985; every two years, the program creates a breeding and transfer plan for animals at zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Geneticists from the SSP consult a “studbook,” which contains the pedigree of all the animals in their system. 自1985年以来，SSP一直在协调繁育建议；该项目每两年为获得动物园和水族馆协会（AZA）认证的动物园制定一次动物繁育和转移计划。SSP的遗传学家会参考一份“血统书”，其中记录了系统内所有动物的谱系。
“We want to maintain a healthy and sustainable population that mimics the natural history of wild orangutans while ensuring successful mother-rearing of offspring,” Seltzer tells WIRED. Their recommendation accounts for a number of breeding factors, including underrepresented genetic lines, each animal’s unique personality, and group dynamics—always aiming for the lowest relation between breeding pairs. “我们希望维持一个健康且可持续的种群，既能模拟野生红毛猩猩的自然历史，又能确保母亲成功抚育后代，”塞尔泽告诉《连线》（WIRED）杂志。他们的建议考虑了多种繁育因素，包括代表性不足的遗传谱系、每只动物独特的个性以及群体动态——始终致力于使繁育配对之间的亲缘关系降至最低。
“We’ve had a very good, happy outcome,” she says. It all started in February 2025 when the Indianapolis Zoo welcomed Edi, a healthy baby boy. After that, Weila was delivered at the Hogle Zoo in Utah in June; Bintang arrived at the Los Angeles Zoo, and in December, the Memphis Zoo welcomed Ruhana. Peterson, the associate primates curator at the Memphis Zoo says being present for that moment was a “remarkable experience.” “我们取得了非常好的、令人满意的结果，”她说。这一切始于2025年2月，当时印第安纳波利斯动物园迎来了健康的男婴Edi。此后，6月份犹他州的霍格尔动物园（Hogle Zoo）接生了Weila；Bintang出生在洛杉矶动物园，12月，孟菲斯动物园迎来了Ruhana。孟菲斯动物园的灵长类动物副馆长彼得森表示，能亲历那一刻是一次“非凡的体验”。
The run of babies has continued this year, with baby girls born at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas, Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, and Fort Wayne Zoo in Indiana. Just a few months ago, the Denver Zoo welcomed a baby boy named Rambutan. 今年，幼崽潮仍在继续，德克萨斯州韦科的卡梅伦公园动物园、堪萨斯州威奇托的塞奇威克县动物园以及印第安纳州的韦恩堡动物园都出生了雌性幼崽。就在几个月前，丹佛动物园还迎来了一名名叫Rambutan的男婴。
Humans share over 90 percent of their DNA with orangutans, a figure well-evidenced in how they breed and give birth. Orangutans in the program are routinely given human birth control and human prenatal vitamins; they’re taught to pee on human pregnancy tests; they gestate for nearly nine months; and after humans, their offspring have the longest childhood of any mammal. While C-sections like Jahe’s are rare, some zoos keep ob-gyns on call for their orangutans and other primates. 人类与红毛猩猩的DNA相似度超过90%，这一数据在它们的繁育和分娩方式中得到了充分体现。项目中的红毛猩猩会定期服用人类避孕药和产前维生素；它们被训练在人类验孕棒上排尿；它们的妊娠期长达近九个月；在所有哺乳动物中，它们的后代童年期仅次于人类。虽然像Jahe那样的剖宫产手术很少见，但一些动物园确实会为红毛猩猩和其他灵长类动物安排妇产科医生随时待命。
“Looking at their eyes and their hands, it’s like a mirror,” says Matthew Lenyo, assistant curator of predators at Denver Zoo. “It’s humbling.” “看着它们的眼睛和手，就像照镜子一样，”丹佛动物园食肉动物助理馆长马修·莱尼奥（Matthew Lenyo）说。“这让人感到谦卑。”
As with humans, maternal behaviors are learned; training is a critical part of ensuring the health of orangutan babies. For first-time mom Hesty, the Sumatran orangutan at the Denver Zoo, training involved teaching her to pass the baby to and from keepers for essential health checks and nursing since Hesty’s mother had struggled with it. 和人类一样，母性行为是后天习得的；训练是确保红毛猩猩幼崽健康的关键部分。对于丹佛动物园的苏门答腊红毛猩猩、新手妈妈Hesty来说，训练内容包括教她如何将幼崽交给饲养员进行必要的健康检查和哺乳，因为Hesty的母亲当年在这方面曾遇到过困难。
For many zoos, prebirth training involves other orangutans in their care too. To be successful, this training requires a deep and hard-earned trust between keepers and these animals, and can prove invaluable if an orangutan cannot be cared for by their biological mother. 对于许多动物园来说，产前训练还涉及园内其他的红毛猩猩。要取得成功，这种训练需要饲养员与动物之间建立深厚且来之不易的信任，如果红毛猩猩无法由亲生母亲照料，这种训练将变得极其宝贵。
That happened at the Hogle Zoo, when Weila’s biological mom failed to bond with her. She was hand-reared by keepers while they prepared Acara—a proven foster who raised her younger brother—to take over as mom using a stuffed animal as a proxy. They slowly introduced the two to each other, rewarding Acara for properly handling Weila. “She also has a gentle behavior” and uses a very gentle touch, says Hannah Comstock, the animal care supervisor of primates at Hogle Zoo. The pair live together full-time now. Acara is a model parent, and Weila is thriving; she has even started adopting some of Acara’s mannerisms. 这种情况就发生在霍格尔动物园，当时Weila的亲生母亲未能与她建立母子纽带。饲养员们对她进行了人工喂养，同时准备让Acara——一位曾抚养过弟弟、经验丰富的代孕母亲——接手，并使用毛绒玩具作为练习对象。他们慢慢地让两者接触，并奖励Acara正确地照顾Weila。“她表现得非常温柔，”霍格尔动物园灵长类动物护理主管汉娜·康斯托克（Hannah Comstock）说，她动作非常轻柔。现在这对母女全天生活在一起。Acara是一位模范母亲，Weila也茁壮成长；她甚至开始模仿Acara的一些举止。
Still, zookeepers aim to be as hands-off as possible. “We do all this work, but then at the same time, the best outcome is when you’re not needed,” says Lenyo. 尽管如此，动物园管理员的目标还是尽可能少地干预。“我们做了所有这些工作，但与此同时，最好的结果其实是你根本不需要介入，”莱尼奥说。
It’s estimated that there are around 100,000 Bornean orangutans and 11,000 Sumatran orangutans left in the wild. The population of Tapanuli orangutans is even more dire, with estimates indicating a few more than 700 are left in the wild. The rainforest habitat they rely on in their native Borneo and Sumatra is being razed to create palm oil plantations, and the great apes are also targeted by traffickers who kill orangutan mothers, kidnap their babies, and sell them on the black market as pets. Some estimates indicate that orangutans could go extinct in the wild within 50 years; some experts caution it could be even sooner, in the next 10 to 20 years. 据估计，野外仅存约10万只婆罗洲红毛猩猩和1.1万只苏门答腊红毛猩猩。打巴奴里红毛猩猩的处境更为严峻，据估计野外仅剩700多只。它们在婆罗洲和苏门答腊赖以生存的雨林栖息地正被夷为平地，以开辟棕榈油种植园。此外，这些类人猿还成为非法贩运者的目标，他们杀害红毛猩猩母亲，绑架幼崽，并在黑市上将其作为宠物出售。一些估计显示，红毛猩猩可能在50年内野外灭绝；一些专家警告称，这一时间可能更短，仅需未来10到20年。
While these new orangutan babies will not be released into the wild, they are a critical part of species conservation. Zookeepers call them ambassadors; when visitors can see the apes, abstract ideas like climate change and deforestation become more real. 虽然这些新出生的红毛猩猩幼崽不会被放归野外，但它们是物种保护的关键一环。动物园管理员称它们为“大使”；当游客亲眼看到这些类人猿时，气候变化和森林砍伐等抽象概念就会变得更加真实。
But the captive population also has a direct impact on the well-being of wild and rehabilitated populations: Research conducted at AZA zoos on everything from disease management to quality of life is then relayed back to teams in Southeast Asia. Felicity Oram is a conservation practitioner and co-director of OrangJUGA, a Borneo-based conservation organization. Her research on orangutan’s teeth has been critical in the care of young orangutans rescued from the pet trade who live in rehabilitation and rescue centers. She quips that “captive orangutans can help their cousins in the wild.” 此外，圈养种群也对野生和康复种群的福祉产生直接影响：在AZA动物园进行的从疾病管理到生活质量等各方面的研究，都会反馈给东南亚的团队。费莉西蒂·奥拉姆（Felicity Oram）是一位保护实践者，也是总部位于婆罗洲的保护组织OrangJUGA的联合主任。她对红毛猩猩牙齿的研究，对于照料从宠物贸易中解救出来并生活在康复和救援中心的幼年红毛猩猩至关重要。她打趣道：“圈养的红毛猩猩可以帮助它们在野外的表亲。”