“It’s a girl!” Melissa Peterson exclaims.

Just outside the operating room, the hallway erupts in cheers. Joseph Dewane, an ob-gyn, has just delivered a healthy baby via C-section; Autumn Joi Goodwin-Samson, a neonatalist, tends to the newborn still slick with a waxy film.

It’s a successful delivery just like any other except for one, minor, difference: The patient is an orangutan.

Ruhana—or just “Ru” for short—is one of eight orangutan babies born in a collection of US zoos since the beginning of 2025. For these critically endangered primates, that’s a staggering figure. It’s also not random: The baby boom is the result of a meticulous breeding plan and decades of research to weave a conservation safety net, one birth at a time.

“It might seem like it was all a coincidence that everyone was born at the same time, but it was very carefully planned,” says Angie Selzer, a senior animal care specialist with the Fort Wayne Zoo in Indiana and the Orangutan Species Survival Plan (SSP) program coordinator.

The SSP has been coordinating breeding recommendations since 1985; every two years, the program creates a breeding and transfer plan for animals at zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Geneticists from the SSP consult a “studbook,” which contains the pedigree of all the animals in their system.

“We want to maintain a healthy and sustainable population that mimics the natural history of wild orangutans while ensuring successful mother-rearing of offspring,” Seltzer tells WIRED. Their recommendation accounts for a number of breeding factors, including underrepresented genetic lines, each animal’s unique personality, and group dynamics—always aiming for the lowest relation between breeding pairs.

“We’ve had a very good, happy outcome,” she says. It all started in February 2025 when the Indianapolis Zoo welcomed Edi, a healthy baby boy. After that, Weila was delivered at the Hogle Zoo in Utah in June; Bint...