Yesterday, the AJC published some new photos of the giraffe calf born July 13.

Today, Laura Raines has a beautiful story about the children’s hospital nurses who cared for baby orangutan Sandar in his final days.

Credit: Zoo Atlanta

Sandar, a 3-month-old orangutan at Zoo Atlanta who had been ill since birth was euthanized July 1, the zoo said.

The male Bornean orangutan was born March 30 to mother Miri and father Sulango. Zoo officials said the Animal Management and Veterinary Teams made the decision to euthanize “based on a progressive deterioration in his condition over the last two weeks and no hope of improvement in his prognosis.”

Sandar had been under round-the-clock care by zoo veterinarians and nurses from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“The Zoo staff and the many dedicated nurses, doctors and specialists from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta went above and beyond the call in doing everything possible to combat Sandar’s many challenges and health complications. With his physical and developmental problems, he would never have survived this long in the wild,” Dr. Dwight Lawson, Senior Vice President of Collections, Education and Conservation for Zoo Atlanta, said in a statement.

Shortly after birth, Sandar was removed from his parents shortly after birth for hand-rearing. The zoo said he experienced a succession of illnesses and needed supplemental oxygen and a feeding tube.

A necropsy will be performed at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, as is customary after zoo deaths.

J.T. died Monday of a respiratory illness.

“The Zoo Atlanta family is deeply saddened by the loss of J.T., both as an individual and as an ambassador for a critically endangered species,” Dr. Dwight Lawson, Senior Vice President of Collections, Education and Conservation, said in a statement.

The zoo’s Animal Management and Veterinary Teams had been treating the great ape for health complications caused by a respiratory illness that began a decade ago. In 1999, J.T. began exhibiting early symptoms of chronic infection of his air sacs, ultimately leading to chronic respiratory infections, a significant cause of death in orangutans, the zoo said.

J.T. underwent years of medical therapies, including two surgeries and consultation with veterinarians across the country. Dr. David Shaz, Assistant Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Emory Crawford Long Hospital, and Dr. Allan Pickens, Thoracic Surgeon at Emory Crawford Long Medical Tower Thoracic Surgery, joined the Zoo’s Veterinary Team in attempting to resuscitate J.T. following a sudden decline on Monday.

Born April 4, 1989, at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center, J.T. had spent the last several years in the company of his great-aunt, 39-year-old Biji, with whom he enjoyed a close personal bond, the zoo said. He is survived by one offspring, male Bernas, born July 27, 2002, at Zoo Atlanta.

A necropsy will be performed at Yerkes, the customary procedure for all animal deaths at Zoo Atlanta, regardless of  age, the zoo sad.

Zoo Atlanta has the nation’s largest zoological collection of orangutans, with nine of the primates. Native to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, Sumatran orangutans are among the Zoo’s most critically endangered primates. The species is threatened by habitat loss, predominantly because of clear-cutting of forests for palm oil production, and risks extinction within 10 years without targeted conservation efforts.

Healthy orangutans can live up to 50 years.