Watch: Female Orangutan Lays Next To Breastfeeding Mom, Strokes Her Baby Through The Glass
New mother Gemma Copeland shared the story of her encounter with a female orangutan. Gemma was visiting Schoenbrunn Zoo while on holiday in Vienna Austria with her 15-month-old son Jasper and partner Shane 31. She realised Jasper needed to feed while she was seated near an Orangutan enclosure. Just as she sat down to feed her son a femaleOrangutan began watching her intently and stroking the baby lovingly through the enclosure. She then got up ca...Read More
No matter where they are - at work, in a restaurant or in a flight - breastfeeding moms are constantly being told to cover up, just because people around them might get uncomfortable. They are told to find a place elsewhere at the cost of keeping an infant hungry. Society seemingly deems something as natural as breastfeeding, vulgar, and it's sadder than it's outrageous.
Facebook/Gemma Copeland
Like in many other cases, humans can stand to learn something from animals in this regard - a new mother named Gemma Copeland, shared the story of her encounter with a female orangutan.
Gemma was visiting Schoenbrunn Zoo while on holiday in Vienna, Austria, with her 15-month-old son Jasper, and partner Shane, 31.
At the zoo, she realised Jasper needed to feed, while she was seated near an orangutan enclosure. Just as she sat down to feed her son, a female orangutan began watching her intently and stroking the baby lovingly through the enclosure.
In a Facebook post, Gemma wrote, 'She then got up, carried a piece of cloth to the window and sat down with me. She looked directly into my eyes then placed her hand up as if to touch my son I was in awe of this beautiful creature already'.
'My son wanted feeding and as it was quiet I fed him whilst I sat there, the way the orangutan reacted took my breath away she kept looking at me, then my son then back again. She sat with me for approximately half an hour, kept stroking the glass and lay down next to me as if to support and protect me', she wrote.
According to Mirror UK, the orangutan named, Sol, had previously given birth to a stillborn infant. When she saw Gemma nursing her baby, she sat beside her protectively and showed her love without words. As Gemma puts it, Sol the orangutan, maybe a 'species apart but breastfeeding connected us today', and this just goes on to show how motherhood transcends species
Sol, is a Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) a species which is now critically endangered, with its population in sharp decline due to habitat destruction and illegal hunting. After the incident, Gemma Copeland is urging people to donate for the Borneo Orangutan Rescue, dedicated to saving these critically endangered species.
