Lady of the zoo celebrates

Believed to be one of the oldest Sumatran Orang-utans in the world, Puan is a mother, grandmother and great grandmother, and is the matriarch of Perth Zoo’s 12-strong orang-utan colony.

Perth Zoo keeper Sam Carson said the name Puan means ‘lady’ in Indonesian. Ms Carson has worked closely with Puan for many years and enjoys her ‘old lady’ antics.

In the summer months, Puan loves to be given buckets of water to paddle in and to use to blow bubbles.

Ms Carson said Puan spent her birthday being spoilt, opening present boxes consisting of nuts, seeds and dried fruit.