Dental Conservation

Though it’s too soon for Khaleesi to have teeth come in, the keepers at the El Paso Zoo are monitoring the baby’s dental development in order to contribute to worldwide conservation research! This is a perfect example of how Zoos contribute to worldwide conservation efforts.  On a daily basis using positive reinforcement training, the orangutan trainers will cue Ibu to present Khaleesi to them. This allows the keepers and trainers to examine Khaleesi up close.  Khaleesi is accustomed to the orangutan care staff and will allow them to examine her gums for any teeth that may be coming in. Again, at the moment, none are coming in. However, Khaleesi does appear to have healthy gums!

Dental observations help sanctuaries and wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Indonesia and Asia, where deforestation and poaching have led to orphaned animals, estimate the age of the orphans.

When orangutans are observed in the wild or when they are orphaned in sanctuaries and rehabilitation facilities in South East Asia, the birth dates are usually unknown. Likewise, all current research indicates that cutting teeth – and when a baby starts teething – is less affected by environment than was previously believed. That means that zoo babies can be good models for tooth eruption in wild orangutans even though they grow up in different environments.

Only 1 out of 6 orphans are lucky enough to be rescued – more than 1,000 orphaned orangutans are living in rescue and rehabilitation centers. Orphans may have lost their mothers because of poaching, or the mother might have been killed from wandering into an encroaching palm oil or paper plantation. Poachers who kill the mother often illegally sell the orphaned infant orangutans as pets.

By helping conservationists come closer to gaging the age of the orphans, this information can help them better plan and prepare orangutans for release into the wild. Also, more correct and consistent age assignment will help build stronger cases for enforcement of existing laws that protect orangutans in areas suffering from deforestation, poaching and other threats.

•  Orangutans (and humans) only get one set of molars, but two sets of premolars.

• Orangutans have 20 baby teeth and 32 permanent adult teeth.

• Orangutan dental emergence, or teeth coming in, is markedly slower than in chimpanzees and more closely parallels humans.