How a Secret Orangutan Breeding Program Is Creating a Baby Boom

The success of a program linking zoos across the US has created social media stars and generated a wave of interest in how to protect the endangered great apes in the wild. "It's a girl!" Melissa Peterson exclaims. Just outside the operating room, the hallway erupts in cheers. Joseph Dewane, an ob-gyn, has just delivered a healthy baby via C-section; Autumn Joi Goodwin-Samson, a neonatalist, tends to the newborn still slick with a waxy film. It's a successful delivery just like any other except for one, minor, difference: The patient is an orangutan .