Baby Batu

Title: Batu

Material: Big brown eyes, big hands, big feet, orange fur

Creator: Tua and Sugi

Year: 2009

 

Batu is a three year old Sumatran Orangutan that was born at the Philadelphia Zoo. She is the first baby of orangutans, Tua and Sugi. The Philadelphia Zoo was the first zoo to have an orangutan born in captivity in 1928.

Batu is an important symbol.  She is the centerpiece of the Zoo’s Year of the Orangutans.  There will be themed events throughout 2012 that focus on saving the orangutans of Sumatra and their habitat. This includes the Zoo’s exhibition Train of the Lorax. This program has been structured around the Lorax and Batu to educate visitors about the deforestation of Sumatra by companies harvesting palm oil.  

Batu was not “acquired,” she was born.  The Zoo did acquire Batu’s mother, Tua, from the Atlanta Zoo as a mate for Sugi.  Sugi had a previous mate, but he did not seem interested in her.  When the Philadelphia Zoo acquired Tua, she and Sugi hit it off immediately and Batu was born shortly thereafter.

Batu can be seen in the primate house with her parents.  During our visit, she was outside swinging around a metal rigging while her mother was lying in a hammock. Sugi was inside playing with a blanket. A Zoo staff member, Mary Bailey, pointed out to us that the Zoo does not have reflective glass allowing visitors to interact with the primates.  Sugi could see us through the glass just as well as we could see him. Batu can also be seen on educational panels throughout the Zoo as part of the Trail of the Lorax conservation exhibition. She is featured on the panels asking visitors to sign a leaf of gratitude thanking companies who use sustainable palm oil such as Proctor and Gamble and Pepsi Co. Soon, visitors will be able to see Batu traveling around the Zoo grounds in the Treetop Trail.

Most visitors to the zoo want to see the baby animals and Batu is no exception. Last February, I visited the Zoo for Valentine’s Day. The Zoo had a holiday program for couples that included hot cocoa and a private tour. The tour guide took us around the zoo and showed us all the young animals and explained about different species reproduction.  I don’t specifically remember seeing Batu, but the popularity of this tour (it was outside in the cold and still sold-out) confirmed how popular the young animals are.

Companies guilty of deforestation and using unsustainable palm oil would be opposed to the Trail of the Lorax exhibition and the Zoo’s involvement with the UNLESS Campaign to thank other companies that plan to use nothing but sustainable palm oil by 2015.  This is bad for their business and promotes their competitors.  It is part of the Zoo’s mission to get the visitors to learn at least one thing at the Zoo and follow through with conservation at home. After visitors engage with the exhibit and campaign by signing thank you leaves, visitors will leave the Zoo and remember what companies they could thank and which one they couldn’t. Visitors interested in helping the orangutans will be more likely to purchase products from companies that joined the UNLESS Campaign.

The Trail of the Lorax exhibition is extremely well planned and implemented. Since ours was an adult tour, I would be interested in seeing how guides take students and young children through the Zoo and specifically through the primate house. If Batu and her parents are active, it would give guides a great opportunity to get children engaged in learning about orangutans, palm oil, deforestation, and conversation. Being close to Batu allows them to make a real life connection to a living thing rather than reading about these topics in a book or watching a video about these topics in class. 

For more information about Orangutans, the UNLESS Campaign, or Trail of the Lorax click here.