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City’s girl orangutan Lvlv finally finds Mr Right and heads for new home in Nanjing
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A female orangutan Lvlv left the Shanghai Zoo this morning headig for her new home in Nanjing, neighboring Jiangsu Province, to ‘marry’ an orangutan there.
The “marriage” between them is expected to contribute to the breeding of orangutans and help enlarge their population.
Lvlv, 17 years old, has been living at the Shanghai Zoo for three years after she was introduced from the Philippines. She is "chubby" and likes playing hoop. She is not picky about food.
The zoo, which has five orangutans, once tried to bridge a marriage between Lvlv, and Qingqing, a 9-year-old male orangutan there, but failed, said Yuan Yaohua, deputy director of the zoo.
"They did not 'fall into love' with each other even if they were together for over two years," Yuan said.
At the same time, Leshen, a 16-year-old male in the Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo, is not lucky in finding a mate as well.
Leshen was abandoned by his mother and was the first artificially bred orangutan in China. He is a star at the Nanjing zoo.
The zoo once distributed a video of Leshen online to seek a companion for him as it said Leshen was lonely.
Leshen once chose a mate at the Hangzhou Wildlife Park in Zhejiang Province under the zoo's matchmaking efforts, but they did not breed. They said “goodbye” to each other last year.
It is the first orangutan breeding program of the Shanghai Zoo, Yuan said.
To prepare for the “marriage”, the Nanjing Hongshan Zoo drove a minibus painted with the photos of the two orangutans to the Shanghai Zoo.
"We have even brought bananas and durian, some favorite food of Lvlv’s, wedding candies and red dates bearing the auspicious meaning of early birth, as 'bride price'," said Shen Zhijun, director of the Nanjing zoo.
The zoo has expanded its orangutan enclosure for the arrival of Lvlv.
Shen said the zoo has been searching for a suitable mate for Leshen for a long time and it is satisfied with Lvlv.
They will be given space and some time to get familiar with each other and the Shanghai Zoo breeders will visit after a week for evaluation.
Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans with typically reddish-brown hair are highly endangered species and are listed the first class national protected animals of China.
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