One of the new animals at a zoo in Virginia needs a name.
The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, Virginia, held an auction last week to find a name for a baby siamang that was born on June 26.
Bidding ends at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 19. The person who wins the bid has until August 26 to send the zoo the name they want to use. This is what the zoo said on its website.
The baby's name can't be the same as that of another animal at the Virginia Zoo. This is so that records can be kept.
The zoo also wants names that don't have to do with gender, since the siamang's gender hasn't been decided yet.
This is because the mother, a siamang named Malana, is still getting to know her baby.
The announcement says that the baby's dad is another siamang at the Virginia zoo named Bali.
“The neonatal exam has not yet been performed as mom and baby haven’t been separated in the interest of their natural bonding process,” the Virginia Zoo explained on its website.
The zoo's auction site says that as of Monday, someone named Bernard David had put in the highest bid of $625.
The money from the auction will go to the Act for Wildlife Conservation fund at the Virginia Zoo, the auction site said.
“A siamang birth is an important addition to this critically endangered lesser ape,” Greg Bockheim, the Virginia Zoo executive director, said in a statement.
“Watching a baby grow and engage with its family is special for all of us.”
