#OrangutanStory: Happy 5th Birthday, Redd!
![Bornean orangutan Redd rests atop a nest of hay covered with a blanket.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/newsroom/20210210-erinstromberg-001-orangutan-redd-nest.jpg?itok=beSBj62I)
![Bornean orangutan Redd was born to mother Batang (pictured here) and father Kyle Sept. 12, 2016. Batang cradles her newborn son, Redd, moments after his birth Sept. 12, 2016.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/paragraphs/single_image/201660912-01alexreddy.jpg?itok=ioOKFXLx)
![Redd traverses the O-Line on Sept. 3, 2021, just before his fifth birthday. Bornean orangutan Redd traverses the O-Line.](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/slideshow/20210903-229sb.jpg?itok=lCZkFOv0)
![Five-year-old Bornean orangutan Redd (left) is half the size of 3-year-old western lowland gorilla Moke (right). Orangutans are built for traversing trees, and gorillas are built for traveling on land. Bornean orangutan Redd (left) and western lowland gorilla Moke (right).](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/newsroom/orangutan-redd-gorilla-moke-skip-brown-20210903.jpg?itok=eJrRCwxi)
How is it possible that our youngest Bornean orangutan, Redd, is already celebrating his fifth birthday? It seems like yesterday Batang was carrying him on her shoulders across the O-Line because he was too young to climb the cables on his own.
Now, Redd is the master of the O-Line, eliciting gasps from staff and visitors alike as he hangs upside-down from his feet, tightrope walks across the cables or leaps from the cables onto the platform. Orangutans are skillful climbers; often, they are described as having four hands rather than what they actually have—two hands and two feet. Still, those of us who observe his O-Line travels (and are not quite as dexterous as orangutans) would breathe easier if he would hold on with more than one of his hands!