What to get an orangutan for her birthday? Fruity cake and a kiddie pool, SC zoo says
A 1-year-old girl at a South Carolina zoo got to celebrate her birthday — ape style.
Adira, a baby Sumatran orangutan, enjoyed a tiered cake, made of frozen watermelon and other fruits, the Greenville Zoo says.
It was part of Wednesday’s party that featured an “Under the Sea” theme, accented with ocean-blue decorations and kiddie pools, according to photos posted on the zoo’s Facebook page.
Video appears to show little Adira climbing onto the swimming pools while carrying a paper plate in her mouth.
The plate had been holding treats for the baby and her parents, Lana and Kumar, the only other orangutans at the zoo, spokesman Will Mesimer told McClatchy newsgroup via email.
It seems the youngest orangutan wasn’t the only one that enjoyed the celebration, Facebook photos show.
One of the parents appears to be crouching under a kiddie pool, next to a stack of frozen fruit, according to a post from the Greenville Zoo Chapter of the American Association of Zookeepers.
The orangutans like to play with the pools and sometimes sleep under them, Mesimer says.
The recent festivities came after Adira in August 2018 became the “first baby orangutan born at the Greenville Zoo since 2006,” according to a news release.
Sumatran orangutans are native to Indonesia and are “one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates,” the zoo’s website says.
This story was originally published August 9, 2019 at 1:18 PM with the headline "What to get an orangutan for her birthday? Fruity cake and a kiddie pool, SC zoo says."
