Sunday, November 25, 2007

First sighting of orang utan twins in Sabah


KOTA KINABALU: Holding on tightly to their mother, orang utan twins were spotted at least twice at the Lower Kinabatangan region in eastern Sabah, in what is believed to be the first ever documented sighting of twins in the wild.

Cardiff University wildlife geneticist Dr Benoit Goossens saw the twins clinging to their mother at the banks of the Kinabatangan river on Oct 23.

Several days later, Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Project (KOCP) field assistant Mohd Daisah Kapar, who was out on assignment to monitor primates, saw the mother and her twins at the Resang river, a tributary of the Kinabatangan.

Goossens, who has been studying wildlife in Sabah for the past few years, said the babies were probably not more than 6 months old.

"They were of the same size, so that is why I believe that they were twins. The twins looked healthy based on my observation, and their mother was busy eating fruits. They were clinging on to both sides of her chest.

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