Overview
- Mandai Wildlife Group performed a planned caesarean for Chomel after two months of preparation, carrying out the surgery on March 18 during her 233rd day of pregnancy to manage placenta praevia.
- Newborn Ayaan needed seven minutes of emergency stabilisation for low oxygen and a slow heart rate before spending time in an incubator and then nursing from Chomel within 24 hours.
- The birth capped years of assisted reproduction to preserve Charlie’s unrepresented genetics, with artificial insemination attempts in 2022 and 2023 and a successful procedure in July 2025.
- Veterinarians enlisted an external surgical specialist and took real-time advice from human obstetric and neonatal experts, and prepared blood donors and other contingencies because caesareans in orangutans are exceptionally rare.
- Ayaan is now visible to visitors on a rotational schedule and has been adopted by SMRT, a move Mandai says supports care and broader conservation work to protect the threatened Sumatran orangutan.