Feel good story of the year

Abandoned at birth, Aurora, the orphaned orangutan, finds a new mom at theHouston Zoo

Aurora, the 10-month-old orangutan at the Houston Zoo, has bright bulging eyes, a bald head, tiny limbs and a so-adorable-it's-painful face. But just after her birth last March, Kelly, Aurora's biological mom, rejected her.

During the first nine months of her life, Aurora clung to an orange-haired stuffed orangutan and 50 volunteers, who cared for her around the clock — nurturing, bottle-feeding, grooming, teaching her to climb.

"Cheyenne is so happy," said Killam. "I don't think I've ever seen her this happy with another baby."

The zoo staff immediately introduced Aurora to the other orangutans, so she became accustomed to seeing them at birth. They monitored interactions between Aurora and the two adult female orangutans, Kelly and Cheyenne.

It's been slow going, but the volunteers' efforts have paid off: Just this month, Cheyenne 'adopted' the abandoned primate. Though she has no natural offspring of her own, Chayenne has successfully been an adoptive mother to three other infant orangutans.

"During the months that Aurora was being hand reared by the keepers and 50 volunteers, the entire process was always in view of all of the zoo's orangutans in the off exhibit 'night house' bedrooms at Wortham World of Primates," Brian Hill, PR and media relations director for the Houston Zoo, told CultureMap. "Over those months, Cheyenne showed the most interest in Aurora. Wanting to be close to her, touch her through the containment mesh, and showing other indications of interest."

The official test came on Dec. 28, when a 'creep door' between Aurora's cage and Cheyenne's was opened for the first time.

"Aurora chose not to go completely through it, instead touching and playing with Cheyenne through the small gap as Cheyenne reached her arm through," said primate supervisor Lynn Killam in a statement.

On Dec. 29, the creep door was again opened, and Cheyenne awaited Aurora's approached.

"As Aurora came through the door, Cheyenne picked her up and carried her across the room," Killam explained. The new pair spent the next seven hours cuddling and sharing food. Aurora watched in amazement as Cheyenne performed summersaults.

Now, they're inseparable.

"Cheyenne is so happy," said Killam. "I don't think I've ever seen her this happy with another baby."

Orangutans are considered infants until their fourth year, and Aurora still has a lot to learn. In the right conditions (a temperature over 60 degrees and no rain), you can catch the pair at the orangutan habitat at the Houston Zoo.

H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Downtown Houston skyline at night

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).

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