Retired Talk Show Host Maury Povich Returns to Make a Very Special “You Are the Father” Announcement
15-year-old Eirina had a big problem.
Who was the father of Eirina’s adorable baby girl Siska? Eirina had mated with both 30-year-old Berani and the more age-appropriate 16-year-old Jaya, but no one could tell which one was the true father of her baby.
No one except Maury Povich, of course.
Speaking to the camera, Maury gave one of the males the good news.
“When it comes to…4-month-old Siska, Berani, you ARE the father!” Povich declared.
Eirina, Jaya, Berani and baby Siska are all Sumatran orangutans, in case you hadn’t guessed, but the rest of the tale is true: no one at the Denver Zoo, where the primates are living, knew which of Eirina’s mates was the lucky pop. After the long-awaited DNA test results came back, the Zoo decided to have a little fun with the reveal, asking Maury Povich to be the one to do the reveal.
Povich, who just received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmy’s, has performed this service for thousands of guests on his long-running talk show Maury, and the veteran host seemed more than pleased to open the envelope one more time, still in the tuxedo he wore to the Daytime Emmy ceremony.
Siska, a female who was born on August 27th, is the first baby for Eirina, who came to the Denver Zoo from Germany’s Dortmund Zoo in 2016. Sumatran orangutans are listed as critically endangered by the Internationa Union for the Conservation of Nature, due in part to illegal hunting, habitat loss, and the black-market pet trade, the Zoo said in an announcement.
The Denver Zoo’s animal care team had to wait a few months after the birth before Eirina was comfortable enough to allow staff to get a hair sample from Siska, which they used to compare her DNA against 30-year-old Berani and 16-year-old Jaya.
Jake Kubié, the zoo’s director of communications, told the Associated Press that after finding out the results were in, “the first thing that popped into my mind was, ‘Berani, you ARE the father!’ That led me to do a little light online stalking to track down (Povich’s) former executive producer, who was kind enough to connect me with his executive assistant.”
The video shows members of the Zoo staff cheering for Berani, who seemed to take the announcment in stride, barely acknowledging the momentous news as he played in his habitat.
Kubié says Siska is doing well, and is still bonding with her mom, proudly adding that she’s “absolutely adorable” and a “huge hit” with the zoo’s visitors.