An orangutan that didn't "exhibit the necessary maternal qualities" to care for her infants needed some additional support, so a group of 30 women got involved. The 30 women breastfed their babies in front of the orangutan, Mujur, 19, at the Dublin Zoo while she was pregnant.
The Dublin Zoo decided to reach out to local lactation groups in hopes of finding volunteers to teach Mujur how to breastfeed, because the infants that she gave birth to in 2019 and 2022 died shortly after they were born. Mujur gave birth to another baby on July 31, 2024. Unfortunately, the baby's father, Sibu, had died in February.
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Mujur was 'extremely interested' in learning from the women.
The volunteers took turns breastfeeding in front of Mujur for several months. Mujur expressed interest in learning from the breastfeeding moms, and even started to copy "some of their actions," according to the Dublin Zoo.
The women and Mujur were separated by glass, but Mujur seemed "extremely interested" in what the women were doing. Orangutans are highly intelligent, and multiple studies have found that orangutans can mimic behaviors, sounds, and facial expressions.
One study even suggests that orangutans can "talk" about the past.
The moms took the lessons seriously — and Mujur did, too.
Mujur paid close attention during the breastfeeding lessons, some volunteers told The Irish Times. Lizzie Reeves, a midwife and lactation specialist, told the outlet that Mujur carefully observed "exactly what [a volunteer] was doing."
Nora Murphy, a volunteer, called Mujur's attention to detail and desire to learn "magic."
The moms also took the teaching job very seriously. To make the experience more authentic and relatable for Mujur, the volunteers took their shirts off while they breastfed in front of her because "an orangutan doesn’t wear a T-shirt," Lizzie told the outlet.
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She exhibited maternal care for her baby after his birth.
In addition to watching women breastfeed, Mujur also watched videos of other orangutans feeding their babies, according to the zoo. The breastfeeding lessons appeared to help Mujur on some level, as she did exhibit "good maternal care" when her baby was born.
Zookeeper Anthony McClure told The Irish Times that while Mujur did most things "perfectly," she didn't position her baby correctly for feeding.
"She was holding the baby and looking after the baby but the most important thing we needed was for the baby to latch on and feed," Anthony told the outlet. "But unfortunately it didn’t happen."
Moms could relate to Mujur because breastfeeding is 'not easy.'
Mujur cleaned and looked after her baby, but simply struggled with breastfeeding. Some moms could relate to her. Niamh McGill, a Dublin Zoo vet who recently gave birth, told The Irish Times that she needed the help of a lactation consultant after she gave birth, so she could understand the challenges Mujur faced.
"It is not easy," she told the outlet, adding that "mothers can really relate to Mujur on a personal level."
The zoo decided to bottle feed the baby.
Although Mujur did many things right and appeared to learn something from her lessons, the zoo made the difficult decision to bottle feed her baby because she didn't position him correctly for breastfeeding. The zoo "had been hopeful for a better outcome," but had a backup plan as well.
"Hand-rearing the infant until independence is not a long-term option here at Dublin Zoo, so it is our intention to have the infant cared for at a specialist institution in the UK which is hugely experienced in hand-raising orangutans," the zoo said in a statement. Currently, the zoo is taking care of and feeding the baby orangutan.
