This is the critically endangered baby Bornean orangutan which has been born in a French zoo in a rare birth which gives hope for the future of the species.

The Zoo Jardin des Plantes of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris announced the birth of the female orangutan Java.

Java is the only baby of her species that has been born in France in 2018 and the last birth of such an orangutan in the zoo was in 2005.

A video shared by the zoo shows the little animal in the arms of her mother, Theodora, who is lovingly taking care of her tiny offspring.

Java is seen briefly playing around and standing on her two hind legs.

The father of the female orangutan, Banggi, is separated from the baby and the mother at the moment because in nature males do not raise their offspring. Java is his first offspring, while Theodora has two more daughters named Satu and Tamu.

In the zoo there is another female orangutan named Nenette, born in 1972 in Borneo.

Banggi was born in 2006 in Fuengirola, Spain.

The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is a critically endangered species, with deforestation, palm oil plantations and hunting posing serious threats to its existence.