Zoo doubles its orangutan population

  • 2014-05-06
Virginia Zoo, located in Norfolk, is about to have two new residents.

Solaris, a 10-year-old orangutan who has previously resided in the Houston Zoo, and Dara, a 14-year-old hailing from Rochester’s Seneca Park Zoo in New York, arrived in Virginia Zoo in April. They join the two current orangutan residents of Virginia Zoo, Pepper and Schnitz, who have resided at the zoo since 2011’s ‘Trail of the Tiger’ exhibit opened. Both Pepper and Schnitz are in their 30s, but they have been largely uninterested in the outdoor habitat, according to the zoo’s news release.

Dara and Solaris do need to spend their next month in quarantine, before they can be released into the exhibit, says the news release, but both of them were outdoors enthusiasts in their previous homes, and the zoo hopes that they will make more use of the outdoor habitat. When brochure and flyer printing for the exhibit is revisited, the new residents will likely be included.

Orangutans are native to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, but are critically endangered, mostly due to habitat destruction, so the zoo also hopes that the new pair may breed. Orangutans often live 35-45 years in the wild, and up to 60 years in captivity. Males can be as tall as five feet, and weigh as much as 300 pounds.