An orangutan at a Virginia zoo finally learned how to nurse her new baby after a breastfeeding zookeeper showed her how it was done

• A zoo in Virginia asked a breastfeeding zookeeper for help after Zoe the orangutan struggled to nurse.
• Less than 24 hours after the live demonstration, the orangutan successfully breastfed.

After Zoe the orangutan struggled to nurse her baby, the Metro Richmond Zoo asked a human zookeeper who also happened to be breastfeeding if she'd give the fellow primate a live demonstration.

It worked — Zoe successfully breastfed less than 24 hours later, the zoo said in a press release.

The zoo, located in Moseley, Virginia, said Zoe's first baby had to be hand-raised after she was unable to nurse him. When she delivered her second baby in December, the zoo asked Whitlee Turner, a zookeeper and new mom, to step in and help.

Whitlee and her baby boy visited Zoe and her newborn at their indoor enclosure.

"With my bra down, I was very exaggerated when I put him on so that [Zoe] could see that the baby goes here. The whole time I was talking to her and pointing at her, pointing at the baby, pointing at her breasts. And when Caleb was latched I was showing it to her, making sure that she saw the important part," Whitlee said. "The whole time she just kept watching me curiously."

The zoo said that even before Zoe's baby was born they had put a TV inside her indoor habitat so she could watch videos of other orangutan mothers giving birth and caring for their young. They said Zoe may not have learned how to parent since she was orphaned at nine months old when her mother died unexpectedly.

"I had a really hard time in the beginning as a new mom with my breastfeeding journey. [I] required a lot of guidance and help before we really figured it out," Whitelee said. "Whether it was an orangutan or a human, I just want to be able to help any new mom."