Photo courtesy Alex Coppel, Herald Sun

The introduction of Sumatran Orang-utan baby Dewi to her big brother Menyaru was a case of ‘slow but sure' this morning.

Mother Maimunah entered the exhibit first, with three-month-old Dewi clinging closely to her mother.

Seven-year-old Menyaru entered soon afterwards, and was given a warning from Maimunah not to come too close straightaway.

Orang-utan Keeper Fleur Butcher observed that Menyaru was very respectful and maintained a distance from his mother and her newborn for a while.

Once Maimunah was confident that the boisterous youngster could remain calm, he was permitted to approach for his first close-up visit with Dewi.

Before this morning, Maimunah's two offspring had seen each other from a distance in the night den area of the Orang-utan Sanctuary but had not come face to face.

Until now, mother Maimunah and Dewi have had an uninterrupted bonding time since the birth on December 6th.

As the introduction went so smoothly, Menyaru is likely to be spending more time with Maimunah and Dewi, although he will also be spending some time with Santan, father of both Menyaru and Dewi.

In the wild, Sumatran Orang-utans are increasingly endangered, and Dewi's birth was a milestone for the Australasian breeding program, which is linked to the international endangered species survival program.

Zoos Victoria is involved in habitat conservation in Sumatra and is running a community conservation campaign to benefit orang-utans in the wild.

Zoo Director Kevin Tanner explains that ‘About 50 orang-utans are dying every week, due to the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations into rainforest areas -- the single largest threat to the existence of South-east Asian wildlife.

'Our Don't Palm Us Off campaign is working to change labelling laws so that we as consumers will be able to tell when palm oil is an ingredient in the manufactured foods in our shops and be able make a choice accordingly.

‘Palm oil can now be described on labels as vegetable oil, and changing to accurate labelling should encourage the use of sustainable palm oil, produced without causing harm to wildlife'.

The issue is due to be discussed in Federal Parliament soon, but there is still time to take action and speak on behalf of wild animals such as Sumatra's orang-utans and tigers by writing to Members of Parliament and to food manufacturers to ask what actions they are taking to help alleviate the threat of palm oil to South-east Asia's wildlife.
Find out more here