nom nom nom Grapes!

Keepers watched as Khaleesi grabbed a whole red grape and placed it in her mouth! Between her baby teeth biting it, mouthing and sucking on it - she ate the whole grape!

Khaleesi selected a large seedless red grape – it looked huge in her little hand! If you’re a mommy who is introducing solid foods, you’ve probably thought the same thing looking at a slice of banana or pear in your little one’s little hand.

Most human babies get their first tooth when they are around 4 – 7 months old. Like with Khaleesi, human baby teeth usually come in pairs. In humans, the bottom front two teeth typically show up first, followed by the top ones.

Khaleesi now has FOUR little front teeth – all on the bottom front.

The grape was served to mommy Ibu. In fact, Khaleesi first went for a stalk of raw broccoli, which Ibu did not let her grab. Ibu took Khaleesi’s little hand and slowly directed it somewhere else. Good thing, too, because mouthing a stalk of broccoli would have been a challenge for Khaleesi!


Khaleesi didn’t take any more of mommy’s food … this time.

It’s the season of GIVING – and the season of GRATITUDE!

Santa Claus is coming to the Zoo, bringing special treats for our El Paso zoo animals and a special gift of snow for the kids to play in. But when you come to the Zoo, you give a special gift to wildlife around the globe.

When you visit the Zoo, round up at a cash register, or support the Zoological Society, you help the El Paso Zoo give to worldwide conservation efforts! In partnership with the El Paso Zoological Society, the El Paso Zoo has given more than $73,000 over the past seven years to projects saving wildlife locally and around the globe. Zoo staff participates in several projects as well!

Because you came to the Zoo, together we were able to help orangutan conservation in Indonesia, supporting the Orangutan Foundation International and the Orangutan Conservancy. Orangutans are critically endangered in the wild. Many conservationists predict that if any of the five species of great apes become extinct in the wild during this century, it will be the Sumatran orangutan. The wild population has declined dramatically by more than 50 percent during the past few decades.

The El Paso Zoo has focused on Sumatran orangutan conservation efforts as one of its top priorities over the past 10 years. The birth of baby Khaleesi was one of the Zoo’s greatest conservation achievements! Have you seen her on exhibit with mommy Ibu?

Did you know the Zoo has helped orangutan in Indonesia and at the Zoo? In recent years, the Zoo has expanded its conservation efforts to include more targeted education programs and a partnership with UTEP that sent Zoo staff to Indonesia to assist with “hands on” orangutan conservation. Two Zoo staff members have visited Indonesia to help with orangutan conservation efforts. Additionally, the full-time animal care staff at the El Paso Zoo is currently contributing to orangutan heart research and orangutan dental research to help save this endangered species in the wild.

Together, we were able to help these conservation efforts in Indonesia and continue our commit to saving orangutans!

Orangutan Foundation International - Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation or orangutans and their rainforest habitat. OFI also supports research on orangutans and forests, education initiatives, both local and international, and brings awareness concerning orangutans. Additionally, OFI runs a research center and rehabilitation center.

Orangutan Conservancy - The Orangutan Conservancy (OC) supports rehabilitation centers in Borneo and Sumatra; funds conservation science; supports Indonesian students through our scholarship program; stages the annual Orangutan Conservancy Veterinary Workshop (OC/OVAG); and promotes orangutans and their conservation plight.

If all Khaleesi wants for Christmas is her two FRONT TEETH ...

If all Khaleesi wants Christmas is her two front teeth, then Christmas has come early to the El Paso Zoo! Khaleesi’s keepers at the El Paso Zoo have been monitoring her dental development in order to contribute to worldwide conservation research! Now, Khaleesi - who turns eight months old on Christmas eve - has two little baby teeth!

These observations are 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. Now she has two – and she also appears to have healthy gums!

If you have a little one cutting teeth, you know it isn't one of those milestones a baby reaches all at once. Most human babies Most babies cut their first tooth at around six months old.

Dental observations help sanctuaries and wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Indonesia and Asia, where deforestation and poaching have led to orphaned animals, and a need to 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. It is also something that varies with the individual animal as to how soon or how long it takes to start. 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 for 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.

Ibu eats browse on exhibit with baby Khaleesi at her side. 

So what do orangutans eat? In the wild, orangutans mainly eat fruit. However, orangutans also eat leaves, flowers, bark and insects. At the Zoo, Ibu eats a well-balanced diet that was researched, reviewed and compiled together by the Zoo’s commissary supervisor with the Zoo’s veterinarian. It consists of lots of healthy greens, non-toxic browse (browse is leafy high-growing vegetation), small amounts of grass hay, produce and biscuits fortified with vitamins and minerals. Adult orangutans are capable of opening hard—shelled and/or thorny fruits by gripping it firmly between their teeth and using one hand to manipulate it until a weak point is found, thereby breaking open the hard exterior. This feeding method enables orangutans to feed on certain vegetation before its ripe enough for other species such as elephants and various insects to eat.

Khaleesi will still nurse for 6-8 years, but she participates in some baby-led weaning, mouthing and sucking soft fruits. Right now, Ibu nurses Khaleesi every 2 to 4 hours.