Three of Auckland Zoo's Bornean orang-utans are LA-bound tonight, for new American homes to help with the international breeding programme for the endangered great ape.
Orang-utan pair, 25-year-old female Gangsa and 21-year-old male Isim are relocating to Los Angeles Zoo, while 10-year-old male Madju will start a new life at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, where he'll be paired up with Luna, a breeding female.
Auckland Zoo primate team leader Amy Robbins, who has worked with the Zoo's orang-utans for the past 15 years, said while it was tough losing the much-loved orang-utans, the move was a positive and important one.
"Gangsa, Isim and Madju are extremely genetically valuable animals that will move to the top of the gene pool in America, where they can all breed and contribute to the US Species Survival Plan for Bornean orang-utans.
"Like Auckland Zoo's remaining orang-utans, they'll continue to play a vital advocacy role for their wild counterparts, who right now in Borneo are the victims of one of the world's worst man-made environmental disasters.
"Deliberately lit forest fires by companies clearing land for cheap palm oil and paper products continue to devastate their rainforest home. If this continues, orang-utans could be extinct in the wild in just a few years, so it's more important than ever to raise awareness of their plight, and do all we can to help."
All three USA-bound orang-utans will travel in custom-built aluminium crates containing familiar comforts like shredded paper and blankets for nest building, water feeders, and lunchboxes of fruit treats.
The trio will make the 12 hour journey in the hold of an Air New Zealand 777 passenger plane.
They will be met by familiar faces - Auckland Zoo primate keeper Emma Staunton and senior vet, Dr An Pas - who will both stay on at Los Angeles Zoo while Gangsa, Isim, and Madju undergo their required six-week quarantine.
Bornean orangutan male Isim
Busch Gardens' senior primate keeper Dawn Costanzo and orang-utan assistant curator Jay Duncan will also be there. The pair have spent the past 10 days at Auckland Zoo to get to know Madju before the move.
"We love Madju already, he's a real character, and I think he'll be a great fit for our orang-utan group," Ms Costanzo said.
"We have a very similar training programme to Auckland Zoo and our female Luna, who we hope will become Madju's mate, is like him - smart, full of character and loves people."
Orang-utan Facts:
Bornean orangutan male Madju
• Malay for 'old man of the forest', the orang-utan is the world's largest tree-dwelling mammal, and 97 per cent genetically similar to humans.
• Orang-utans breed once every 6 to 10 years, have usually have one off-spring.
• They are found in the tropical rainforests of Borneo (Malaysia and Indonesia) and Sumatra (Indonesia).
• The Bornean orang-utan is listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List, and the Sumatran orang-utan as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, due to growth of illegal deforestation for palm oil plantations, and the pet.
• Orang-utans are known as the 'gardeners of the forest' due to the vital role they play in seed dispersal - assisting in forest growth and regeneration that supports a wealth of biodiversity.
