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Animals & Wildlife

Mama orangutan's tender moments with her 3-month-old baby melt everyone's hearts

Such a good mama.

Toronto Zoo/YouTube

Mama Sekali takes good care of her 3-month old.

There's nothing like the magic of new motherhood, when you find yourself spending hours marveling at the incredible being you helped create and gazing at their impossibly tiny and adorable features. It's sweet when humans do it, but seeing animals have those kinds of tender moments with their babies is so endearing.

Sekali, a Sumatran orangutan who lives at the Toronto Zoo, gave birth to a baby in April 2022. In a video shared by the zoo, the baby gets some "tummy time" while Sekali gently strokes and cuddles him. "Sekali continues to take excellent care of her little one, and he appears to be more alert and mobile," the zoo shared. "Keepers are seeing the baby standing up while holding onto mom and sitting up on his own now, so he is growing stronger each day."

The little guy is cute cute cute, but Sekali picking up his foot and "kissing" it is the sweetest darn thing ever.

Orangutan Tummy Time

- YouTubeyoutu.be

People gushed over the video on the zoo's Facebook page.

"LOOKS LIKE ALL MOMMA'S COUNTING THOSE LITTLE TOES AND FINGERS.... SHE APPEARS TO BE SUCH A TENDER MOM!! 🙂❤ I LOVE THIS!!!! 🙂" wrote one commenter.

"Clearly his Mom just adores him so much," wrote another. "She is such a good Mom.........he's so sweet and bright-eyed .....a happy and content little guy."

"I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but, that little one is cuter than a lot of babies!!!! Just look how gentle she is with baby!!!" shared another.

A few months later in August 2022, the Toronto Zoo announced in a press release that the baby orangutan had been christened "Wali," which means "guardian" in Indonesian. Dolf Dejong, CEO of the Toronto Zoo, noted that the name was chosen from a batch of suggestions from the Wildlife Care keepers. Though there were many great suggestions, one stood out as the "clear winner," said DeJong. According to the Zoo's press release, the name felt "fitting since Sumatran Orangutans are the guardians of the rainforests."

While the Sumatran orangutans are seen as guardians, the sad truth is that the species is in trouble.

In 2017, Sumatran orangutans were moved from the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species' "endangered" category to "critically endangered," with their habitat in the wild threatened by deforestation, primarily due to palm oil plantations replacing rainforests. According to the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme in 2022, there were only around 14,000 orangutans left in the wild. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), that number has dipped even lower as of 2025.

rainforest, nature, environment, Sumatran orangutans, guardiansAccording to the Toronto Zoo, "countless [rainforest] plants and animals depend on the critically endangered orangutans for survival."Image via Canva

Orangutan breeding in captivity is not without its controversy, however. The purpose of captive breeding programs like the Orangutan Species Survival Plan is not to release the animals into the wild, but rather to maintain genetic diversity, enable research, and educate the public about these magnificent creatures. Zoos have come a long way in recent decades, creating habitats that look and feel much less like cages and more like the wild, and studies have shown that zoos have a positive impact on people's interest in conservation. Orangutans in human care, like Sekali, may help motivate more people to care about what's happening to the species in their home habitats.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome this new addition to the Toronto Zoo family,” said DeJong. “This orangutan baby is an important contribution to a genetically healthy Sumatran orangutan population in human care. Meanwhile, Sumatran orangutans are under increasing pressure in the wild due to habitat loss and the palm oil crisis, which we are working with partners to address. We are proud to play an important role in the conservation of this amazing species.”

Today, Wali is thriving with mama Sekali and dad Budi. A compilation of his "adorable antics" was shared on YouTube in early January, showing the public what Wali has been up to the last few years. Watch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

If you'd like to learn more about orangutan conservation and how to help, visit the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme or check out the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Heroes

Norway just scored an important victory in the fight to protect the world's rainforests.

Norway is a pretty amazing place.

I mean DAMN. Photo by Ekornesvaag Svein Ove/AFP/Getty Images.

First of all, it's the happiest country in the world, according to a Forbes ranking. Probably because of all that delicious Norwegian salmon they get to eat. Which, by the way, they introduced to Japan in the 1970s — effectively inventing salmon sushi.

Thanks, Norway!

Norway has also done some pretty amazing things for the planet and the battle against climate change.

To be fair, Norway has a stockpile of over $800 billion from oil sales that it's been saving since the 1990s. That's a LOT of cash earned by profiting on fossil fuels.

That said, the internal workings of the country are super-green and getting greener.

They use hydropower to supply 95% of their electricity, and they plan to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — a lofty goal that they're well on their way to completing.

Norway also does a lot for trees.

Trees! Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images.

Look around you. Do you see any trees? (Try going outside first.) How about now? See any?

I hope you do, because if you're near a tree, that means you're near a thing whose job it is to soak up greenhouse gases (like CO2) and pump out oxygen for you to breathe.

So go up to the tree and thank it. I'm not kidding. High-five that sucker and tell it it's doing a good job.

Trees are great for the climate, which means forests are REALLY great for the climate. Norway wants to protect those forests so they can keep helping us out.

A patch of rainforest in Borneo that was cleared for palm oil production. Photo by Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images.

Norway recently worked with Brazil to help save the Amazon rainforest, which was disappearing rapidly due to deforestation. But their commitment to forests didn't stop there.

Norway just made history by committing to zero deforestation.

What does that mean, exactly?

Well, as the World Resources Institute points out ... it's complicated and means different things to different people. But what it comes down to is that Norway's committing to avoid buying or using items that come from deforested areas.

Indonesia has some of the worst deforestation in the world. Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images.

Many private-sector companies have taken a similar pledge, but Norway is the first country to take it. This sets a new precedent for governments that want to act in a big way on climate change.

“This is an important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest," Nils HermannRanum of Rainforest Foundation Norway said in a statement, urging other countries like Germany and the U.K. to step up to match Norway's game.

The best part of Norway's commitment: You can make it too!

Committing to zero deforestation isn't limited to corporations and governments. There are many ways to ensure that you, as an individual, don't contribute to the rapid loss of forests.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

You can go paperless. You can look for the FSC seal on paper and wood products. You can try going vegetarian. (Do one vegetarian day a week if the full commitment scares you.) Or plant a tree! Plant a glorious tree and high-five it every day for encouragement.

We can all help save the world's forests, and the fact that Norway is stepping up as an entire country to help out is particularly awesome.

Hopefully this is only the start.

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Heroes

8 years ago Norway gave Brazil $1 billion. Here's how they used it to save the rainforest.

Rainforests are f***ing amazing.

They look cool, they sound cool, they even smell amazing. Like a combination of roses and fresh-cut grass. No, seriously, I spent the night in a rainforest once, and I swear the air smelled like sugar and hugs.

Plus mornings look like this. Photo by me.

Rainforests also do incredible things for the climate.

They're natural carbon filters. All that nature packed into one area basically makes them giant CO2 vacuums that pump out fresh oxygen.

When it comes to clean, breathable air, rainforests have our backs.

Unfortunately, deforestation all over the world threatens to make rainforests a thing of the past.

According to National Geographic, at the current rate of deforestation, rainforests will disappear completely within a hundred years. Which would be terrible for a lot of reasons.

Deforestation in northern Brazil. Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/Getty Images.

It would hurt the environment, it could wipe out the homes of millions of animals, and it would definitely make the world a less awesome place.

The biggest rainforest in the world is the Amazon, and it's been shrinking scarily fast.

From 1970 to 2015, the Amazon lost 768,935 square kilometers (296,887 square miles) of forest — about the size of Turkey. The worst year for Amazon deforestation was 2004, when 27,000 square kilometers of forest was lost.


Time-lapse of deforestation in the state of Rondônia in Brazil from 2000 to 2010. GIF via NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Overall, deforestation has slowed, but a lot of work needs to be done to slow it further. Luckily, Brazil, which hosts about 60% of the Amazon rainforest, got some help.

Back in 2008, Norway pledged $1 billion to Brazil's Amazon protection fund to help it fight deforestation.

"We support Brazil's government and its efforts to preserve the forest and stop deforestation," said then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

The funds were to extend through 2015 on the condition that Brazil provide definitive proof that deforestation was being reduced. It was a worthy challenge and an incredible call to action from a country on the other side of the world.


The Amazon River in Brazil. Photo by Christophe Simon/Getty Images.

The best part is...

Brazil crushed it.

In the seven years since the pledge, Brazil managed to reduce deforestation by a stunning 75%, which translates to about 33,000 square miles of forest saved and 3.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere. According to National Geographic, that's three times bigger than the effect of taking all the cars in the U.S. off the road for a year.

So yeah. Ca-rushed it.

Norway applauded Brazil's absolute home run and paid up the final $100 million in September, with Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister Tine Sundtoft saying "Brazil has established what has become a model for other national climate change funds."

Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images.

Brazil plans to continue its work and has even pledged to eliminate deforestation completely by 2030.

It's going to take the whole world coming together to fight climate change effectively.

Brazil stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park with the help of a country that is over 6,000 miles away and doesn't have an inch of the Amazon on its soil. But Norway knows we're all on this planet together.

Photo by Jerome Vallette/Getty Images.

"This is an outstanding example of the kind of international collaboration we need to ensure the future sustainability of our planet," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the Brazilian deal.

It's the type of international cooperation I know I'd like to see more of. Norway saw an opportunity to help — not themselves, but the whole world. And they helped Brazil do something amazing.

Heroes

9 texts from Earth so real you'll laugh.

Earth just can't quit us.

You know that moment when you KNOW you should break up with that person you're dating, but you just can't seem to let go?

Imagine how Earth feels. About humans.

Needless to say, there are a bunch of red flags we humans are sending that would make any friend of Earth say, "Earth, I think they're just not that into you."

Every relationship has ups and downs. Even our relationship with our own planet. You've read articles and you've watched documentaries, but we all know the truth comes out strongest in ... text messages.

1. Earth has thing for bad boys.

2. Mixed signals.

Tomato, tomahto — pattern, anomaly — potato, potahto? Let's call the whole thing off.

3. Ghosting.

4. Fear of commitment.


It's like, "I'll look at the rainbow, but don't make me conserve too much water, OK?"

5. Low standards!

6. Burn me once, shame on you...

...burn me twice, shame on Earth?

7. Lack of communication.

Not the text bubble thingeeeee!!!!

8. Lack of boundaries.

9. The final burn.

"What's love got to do with it?" — Earth/Tina Turner

Burn!

The state of Earth-human relations is tough.

Global carbon dioxide levels are the highest they've been in 3 million years, and some climate scientists are saying that global warming has "supercharged" El Niño, making the winter of 2016 a warm and extra weird one. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Things are bad. But it's not too late to make things better.

One "text" at a time.


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