Baby orangutan expected at Kent wildlife park

Orangutans Awan and Jin are expecting a baby at Wingham Wildlife Park

A pair of Bornean orangutans at a Kent wildlife park are expecting a baby.

Awan moved to Wingham Wildlife Park last year and soon gained the attention of one of the males, Jin.

It's estimated she is now three and a half months pregnant and is set to give birth in July.

Markus Wilder, curator at the park, said he "knew as soon as she arrived that Awan and Jin were really hitting off".

Wingham Wildlife Park curator Markus Wilder says Awan and Jin "hit it off" straightaway

He added: "From the interactions that we've seen from them it was worth just double checking with a pregnancy test. We discovered she's expecting."

Orangutans can live to be over 30 years old in the wild, and up to 50 years in captivity.

The gestation period is around eight and a half months, with mothers giving birth to a single baby every eight years.

It is relatively rare for orangutans to be born in captivity as they have the longest infant development period of all the great apes, with weaning taking place between five and eight years.

Both parents are in an enclosure that can be viewed by the public but Mr Wilder expects Awan to "retreat to a more private area as she gets closer to her birth date".