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http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/02/26/news/regional/73c361168e8cb9958725711e0073504c.txt

Zoo gets mother orangutan to accept baby

Sunday, February 26, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Thanks to a patient zoo staff and a faux-fur
vest, Hogle Zoo's baby orangutan, Acara, is now living and learning
alongside her mother, Eve.

Eve gave birth to Acara last Mother's Day. The dangerously long labor
forced zoo staff to birth the baby by Caesarean section. Because the
birth was not natural, 15-year-old Eve did not recognize the baby as
hers. Twenty staff members and 12 volunteers have spent the last nine
months hand-raising Acara and training the pair to coexist.

"The progress was very slow from the get-go," said Erin Jones, part of
Hogle Zoo's animal-care staff. "We had to take very tiny steps. If Eve
could even look at Acara, we'd reward her, and even that would take a
week. It was hard to take nine months of tiny steps."

Volunteer Pat Meekins took turns with other trainers wearing a
faux-fur vest, modeled after Eve, to feed, train and care for Acara.
Training involved getting the baby Bornean orangutan to grab the
vest's fur, grasp a trainer's arm or crawl around her jungle gym.

"Slowly, our tasks lessened and we were told to back off. She has
transferred all her desires to her mother, and we are so excited."

Staff members have cared for Acara 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
slowly trying to introduce her to her mother. Although primary care
has rested on the shoulders of the staff, introductions between Eve
and Acara started on Day One and have increased since then.

The process began with smearing peanut butter on the wall above
Acara's head, which allowed the baby to grab onto Eve's fur while mom
licked the treat off the wall. Eve would be rewarded for tasks such as
looking or touching Acara.

"When she found out she got really big rewards for Acara touching her,
she used to pick up Acara's hand and put it on her face," said Bobbi
Gordon of the animal-care staff.

But that's not to say uniting mother and baby came without its challenges.

"There were times when we didn't know if we could put them together,"
said Liz Larsen, animal-care supervisor. "Things would change
sometimes daily."

Fortunately, Eve always acted with nervousness toward Acara, not aggression.

Bornean orangutans are highly endangered and tough to breed. But Hogle
Zoo was able to breed Eve with 16-year-old Eli, who sits in the pen
next to Eve and Acara, sometimes watching them through the window.
Orangutan males do not have any part in raising their offspring and
are solitary animals.

The two stay together now, in a childproof pen. Staff stopped wearing
the monkey vests around December, and Eve and Acara spent their first
full night together on Valentine's Day. They are kept in the pen
visible to the public, rather than the training enclosure downstairs,
and zoo guests can watch mother and daughter bond.

"She's much more careful around the baby," Jones said of Eve's
typically playful, wild nature. "She wants to play and she still does
... but she makes sure it's safe."