A RARE newborn Sumatran orangutan has been named after its gender was revealed.
Primate keepers at Chester Zoo named the baby girl Kesuma, which means 'flower' in Indonesia.
Kesuma was born to mum Emma and dad Puluh in December in what was a major success story for an acclaimed breeding programme for the highly threatened species.
Curator of Mammals at the zoo Tim Rowlands said: “Emma’s baby girl Kesuma is her fifth youngster and she’s such a good mum.
"She’s incredibly attentive and it’s wonderful to see her and her latest arrival forging close bonds.
“She’s an incredibly important arrival for the conservation breeding programme and can hopefully throw a spotlight on the huge pressures that her cousins are facing in the wild.”
As one of the world's most endangered great apes the Sumatran orangutan is among the many species being pushed to the brink of extinction in South East Asia by hunting, forest clearance and the planting of oil palm plantations.
There is intense demand for the oil, which is in all sorts of every day products in the UK from food to cleaning materials and cosmetics.
Chester Zoo is currently leading a major new campaign to make Chester the world’s first ‘Sustainable Palm Oil City.’
Zoo conservationists are working with restaurants, cafes, hotels, fast food outlets, schools and workplaces in the city to introduce sustainable palm oil policies into their supply chain.
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