MATSUYAMA, April 4 \u2014 A zoo in western Japan aims to breed endangered orangutans by pairing a male at the zoo with a female from an Indonesian zoo under a rare wildlife conservation agreement, Kyodo News reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hayato, a 15-year-old male Bornean orangutan at Tobe Zoological Park of Ehime Prefecture, has reached breeding age, but the zoo has struggled to find him a partner as the species is limited in Japan and listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature\u2019s Red List.<\/p>\n
A turning point came in 2018, when Taman Safari Indonesia proposed launching a joint orangutan conservation project with the prefecture-run zoo, a facility that had previously succeeded in breeding Sumatran orangutans.<\/p>\n
Ehime Prefecture and Indonesia signed a wildlife conservation agreement in 2024, followed by a breeding loan agreement between the two zoos in April 2025.<\/p>\n
Tobe Zoo welcomed a female Bornean orangutan named Jennifer in December 2025, bringing the total number of orangutans at the zoo to three, including a Sumatran orangutan.<\/p>\n
The 15-year-old female has been on public display since March and is already drawing many visitors. Borneo orangutans enter breeding age between 12 and 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is smart, gentle, and loves to eat, especially oranges from Ehime Prefecture,\u201d said her keeper, Eriko Inoue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope this matchmaking is successful,\u201d she said, adding that she hopes visitors will learn about the situation facing wild orangutans through Jennifer. \u2014 Bernama-Kyodo<\/p>\n
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