WINSTON WEEKLY^[1]

May 10, 2026

Vol. 4, No. 19

MAGNIFICENT MOMS[2]

If a “Queen of Moms” existed in the in the wild, it would be the orangutan. There are three species of orangutan: Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli. Giving birth every eight to nine years in two areas of Indonesia, their offspring are nursed for up to eight years. Even as teenagers, mothers and their offspring share close bonds, essential for survival in challenging environments.

Orangutangs share nearly 97% of human DNA, and one-third of the size of a human brain. Highly intelligent animals, they navigate their offspring through a complex ecosystem. Given scarce food sources in the rainforests, mothers teach their offspring how to identify nearly 200 types of plants and flowers, how to fish with a stick, how to build nests and avoid predators, and how to use leaves as napkins and umbrellas.

Spending most of their time in trees, orangutangs build nightly nests consisting of leaves and branches. With flexible and strong hands and feet, they navigate trees with their babies on their stomachs or sides during the first two years. By age three, offspring cling to their mother’s backs for another two years.

Baby orangutangs, like toddlers, have temper tantrums and often cry or whine when they want attention. Mothers, the sole source of nurturing for offspring, hold and groom their babies to calm them, their immense bodies and long limbs providing comfort. Photographer Zac Mills observed orangutangs in their natural habitat, including Pescak, a mother orangutang who guided her baby through the trees. As he explained, “The way she gently reassured her baby with soft touches and subtle vocalizations was nothing short of mesmerizing.”

WEEKLY ACTIVITY

Commit to reading one of the many books or blogs on orangutans and making notes of something new that you learned. Consider how what you learned might be shared with someone you love or could be developed into a lesson for a writing assignment.

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[1] A weekly blog/newsletter by Alysen Bayles to be shared with the appropriate attribute.

[2]Resources: Katie Blackburn’s 2016 book, Where the Wild Moms Are, was inspired by the classic children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are. A worn-out mom takes a turn in the wild, earning the crown, “Queen of the Wild Moms”; Borneo Orangutan Survival, https://www.orangutan.or.id; Sumatran Orangutan Society, www.orangutan-sos.org; Faye Harwell, What Orangutans Taught Me About Motherhood, May 8, 2020, www.sapiens.org; Jeffrey Schwartz, The Red Ape: Orangutans and Human Origins, Basic Books, Jan. 2005.