Philadelphia Zoo Two Mothers, Two Parenting Styles

In this video, you can see a mother giraffe (Stella) with her baby girl (not named yet, although her name will probably be Abigail), and a mother orangutan (Tua)with her baby girl (Batu).

The baby giraffe is one month old. The baby orangutan is almost one year old. Yet the interesting thing is that both babies seem to be at about the same level of development.

Both are still nursing, and both are occasionally taking bites of whatever foods they observe their mothers eating. Both stay near their mothers, but occasionally move away from them and try to explore on their own.

And both can move in ways that adults of their species move - the baby orangutan can now climb and swing on ropes, and the baby giraffe can spread her front legs and bend down to nibble on grass, and coordinate her legs in the pacing motion giraffes are known for.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Philadelphia Zoo
• zoos
• wildlife
• animals
• giraffes
• giraffe
• animal
• mammal
• African Plains
• Primate Reserve
• orangutans
• Stella
• Batu
• Tua
• baby-giraffe
• 2010
• Saturday
• August
• zoology