ORPHANED orangutan Mimi has celebrated her third birthday at Dorset’s Monkey World Apr Rescue Centre.

She marked the occasion with her keepers, who threw her a party complete with jelly, fruit and friends.

Mimi came to the centre in 2016 after her mother at Moscow Zoo abandoned her. She joined Europe’s only orangutan crèche at Monkey World, and was adopted by adult female Oshine.

Already present in the nursery were two Sumatran infants, Rieke & Bulu Mata, and adolescent males, Silvestre and Jin.

The nursery gives a family to youngsters who would otherwise have had to be reared away from their own kind- a contributing factor to whether they become successful parents themselves.

Mimi’s birthday coincides with International Orangutan Day on August 19, when orangutan organisations globally work to raise awareness of their plight.Orangutans are critically endangered due to loss of habitat through deforestation, and smuggling for the exotic pet trade.

Monkey World visitors on August 19 can learn all about orangutans.