Denver Zoo Enlists Maury Povich to Determine Orangutan Father
When the Denver Zoo was unsure which orangutan — 30-year-old Berani or 16-year-old Jaya — fathered their new baby Siska, they called in the pros.
The zoo employed none other than Maury Povich to reveal which of the orangutans fathered Siska, and on Tuesday, they shared the results on social media.
“The results are in!” The Denver Zoo posted on Twitter along with a video of Povich making the announcement.
“When it comes to the orangutan, 4-month-old Siska, Berani, you are the father!” Povich exclaimed in the video, pulling the DNA results from an envelope just as he did on his long-running daytime TV show.
The video then cuts to a number of Denver Zoo employees who are cheering Berani on as he plays in his habitat.
Siska was born on Aug. 27 to Eirina, a Sumatran orangutan. She is Eirina’s first baby, and she “is an incredible first-time mom who is doing a wonderful job caring for her baby,” the zoo said on Twitter on Sept. 6.
Eirina arrived at the Denver Zoo by way of Germany’s Dotmund Zoo in 2016, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums said in a September news release.
The baby was named “Siska” after Dr. Fransiska Sulistyo, “a renowned orangutan veterinary, conservationist and researcher,” according to the zoo.
Siska’s birth “provides an invaluable boost to the critically endangered species,” the Association of Zoos and Aquariums said.
The association said Siska’s birth is a “momentous occasion” for both the Denver Zoo and the global conservation community as Sumatran orangutans are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Sumatran orangutan population is “rapidly declining … due to habitat loss, illegal hunting and the black-market pet trade,” the association said in the release.