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Your morning adorable: Sumatran orangutan baby at the Budapest Zoo

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Hungary’s Budapest Zoo has had a big year for endangered ape births -- both a Sumatran orangutan baby, above, and a western lowland gorilla baby were born there in 2010.

Sumatran orangutans and western lowland gorillas are both considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the organization that maintains a ‘red list’ of species considered at risk of extinction.

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Sumatran orangutans like this little one, a female, are genetically distinct from their relatives, the more well-known Bornean orangutans. Both species are endangered, but there are far fewer Sumatran orangutans remaining in the wild (an estimated 7,300) than Bornean orangutans (in the tens of thousands). A report released by the wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC last year showed that Sumatran orangutans were increasingly imperiled by the pet trade.

All of this, of course, means that the birth of a new Sumatran orangutan is a big deal indeed.

Check out another photo of the Budapest Zoo’s orangutan baby after the jump!

RELATED ADORABLE ORANGUTANS:
Your morning adorable: Introducing Duran, the Dresden Zoo’s newest orangutan addition
Your morning adorable: Rescued baby orangutan in Malaysia

-- Lindsay Barnett

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