Baby Rickina was confiscated from a very suspicious person. In 2013, a man claimed that he encountered a mother orangutan in the wild, and she was so startled that she abandoned her baby and ran away. The man said that while picking up the abandoned baby, his machete left a gaping wound on her head. However, as Orangutan Outreach explains, a mother orangutan will never leave her infant behind and will fight to the death to protect her baby from aggressors. The rescue group feared abuse, and decided the baby was better off in their care. Thus began Rickina’s new chapter.
Without a mother, Rickina required lots of love and care. After one month in the “orangutan baby school,” it was time for her to meet the rest of the babies and learn how to socialize with her peers. YouTube viewers around the world have fallen in the love watching Rickina adjust to her first day amongst the other babies, like proud parents watching their child experience preschool for the first time ever. She’s shy and hesitant at first, clinging to her caretaker and unsure of her surroundings… but within just a few minutes, her expressions begin to change and her excitement is infectious. Wait until you see her play and explore!
Orangutans are critically endangered in the wild because of rapid deforestation and the expansion of palm oil plantations into their rainforest home. If nothing is done to protect them, they will be extinct in just a few years.
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