TAMPA, Fla. -- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is launching a Facebook poll on Thursday to name its newest animal, a baby male orangutan.
The baby weighed around 3 pounds after birth. The animal care is closely monitoring him and his mother, Luna, who is nursing him. Guests will be able to see the baby soon in Jungala area of the park.
Boreneau orangutans are critically endangered. The apes typically live in the trees of tropical island rain forests on the island of Borneau, from the lowland swamps to high in the mountains.
Over the past sixty years the orangutan population declined by more than fifty percent. Their habitat has been reduced due to deforestation due mostly because of palm and other agricultural plantations.
Poachers also snatch babies from their mothers to illegally set them as pets on the black market.
