About Ibu & Butch

The El Paso Zoo is home to a pair of Sumatran orangutans named Ibu and Butch. Here's some more personal information about our expecting parents:


ABOUT IBU

Ibu was born August 1, 1991 at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans and came to the El Paso Zoo on June 16, 1997. This is the first pregnancy for 23-year-old Ibu.
Ibu is an intelligent, curious, petite orangutan. She has been training for husbandry and motherhood for several years. Ibu is an artist who loves bright colors. Her work has been published in a book available on www.amazon.com titled, “Fur in My Paint.”Ibu likes chapstick and painting her nails.
Ibu knows a wide variety of commands that allow her to communicate with trainers, with who she has developed a trust-based relationship. She voluntarily presented urine samples for pregnancy testing and also presents her stomach to receive sonograms. Currently Ibu is training to voluntarily present her future baby to her trainers for medical examinations and additional feeding by using a wood block orangutan doll that is the same size and weight as a baby orangutan. She is gradually beginning to use a stuffed animal baby orangutan. If you would like to purchase a stuffed orangutan baby for Ibu to practice her mothering skills, you can do so at the El Paso Zoo gift shop.

ABOUT BUTCH

Butch was born at the Oklahoma City Zoo on August 19, 1985 and came to the El Paso Zoo from the Cincinnati Zoo on March 29, 2011. This will be 29-year-old Butch’s first time as a father.
He’s very shy and has a tall and lanky build. Butch is very detail-oriented and highly observant. He always notices and carefully considers subtle changes in his environment, inspecting them closely. He likes classical music, special orangutan-friendly chalk, and building blocks.

SUMATRAN ORANGUTANS

Orangutan, or “orang hutan” literally translates into English as “person of the forest. Of all the apes in the world, only oranutans come from Asia. Orangutans have shaggy, reddish-brown hair. Some males may grow white or yellow beards. Otherwise, orangutans have bare faces, long arms and curled fingers and toes. Functionally, orangutans have four hands rather than two hands and two feet. Orangutans are the largest tree-living mammal in the world.