Wildly Successful: The Tapanuli Orangutan

Written by: Jim Knox
Curator of Education at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo

“Hey, what do you think about the new orangutan?” my friend asked.
Knowing his sense of humor, I cocked my head and smiled, waiting for the punchline.
“Go ahead…” I encouraged him to finish the joke.
The roar of the crowd under the Friday night lights pulled us from our conversation to focus on the game.
“Seriously. What do you think?” he asked earnestly, after the next set of downs.
“I haven’t heard,” I responded in surprise.
Now it was his time to smile.
“You’re not kidding…” he replied.
“Nope. Tell me. I haven’t read anything about it,” reflecting on an especially busy week gone in a flash.
It was the fall of 2017. Our boys were good friends and teammates, so our friendship had grown as well, our conversations ongoing, wide-ranging, and always fun.
Now confident neither was pulling each other’s leg, he began. I listened and learned of an amazing discovery.

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