How a Secret Orangutan Breeding Program Is Creating a Baby Boom
“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.
It’s a successful delivery just like any other except for one, minor, difference: The patient is an orangutan.
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.
“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,...
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