Adult male orangutans are quite distinctive. They have large cheek pads flanking their face, great sagging throat sacs, and they vocalize what is known as a “long call.” All of these traits are likely linked to their mating system in the wild. The “long call” resonates throughout the forest. It serves as a way for males to establish dominance. The adult males at the OCCQ long call as well, and we take the frequency of their long calls as signs of which orangutans are “dominant” at the Care Center. Montana used to long call frequently, but now he does so least of all the adult males.

Most of the adult males at the OCCQ were already adults when they arrived at the Care Center, but Montana has been here since he was young. He was severely injured when he first arrived. He had shotgun pellets lodged in his head that had caused blindness in his left eye, and the entire right side of his body was lame except for his stiff arm. These injuries could have been the result of falling from a tree after being shot, or from being brutally beaten. Whatever ordeal Montana suffered, his mother probably did not survive it. His lameness and blindness have stayed with Montana his whole life. He walks with a limp and has some difficulty climbing.

We would hope that one day Montana could vie for dominance in the wild, but his injuries make the plausibility of release back into the wild complex. For now he remains at the Care Center near the people who have been with him for the majority of his life. Unfortunately, we can no longer take him out on daily releases into the Care Center’s forest. Because of his immense size and strength, Montana could severely injure both humans and fellow orangutans without even trying. Thus, we work to make Montana’s life stimulating in other ways. He lives in a tall sleeping enclosure with platforms, wooden beams, and multiple large tires. Despite his limited mobility, Montana frequently manages to get himself up to the highest parts of his enclosure so he can better survey the happenings of the Care Center. On the floor of his enclosure, he likes to sit upon one of the large tires, grab the outer caging for leverage, and then use his good leg to lift the tire and flop it hard to the side, thus scooting himself throughout the enclosure. This behavior is likely an adjustment to account for his limited mobility. Beyond the permanent enrichment of his enclosure, we are always looking for new ways to keep Montana stimulated.

Montana utilizing a tire to move quickly across the floor of his enclosure.

Montana is a very observant and manipulative orangutan. Whatever you bring him, he figures out a way to keep himself entertained. All of the orangutans are given branches at the end of each day to build a sleeping nest. Montana is a good nest builder, but he likes to use his branches for other purposes as well. I have seen him sweep the floor of his enclosure with leafy branches, or break off sticks to use for special “projects.” Once, by coincidence, I noticed Montana doing something quite remarkable. It was a day when a new sleeping enclosure was being built nearby Montana’s enclosure. As the sound of hammers hitting nails droned on, I noticed from afar that Montana seemed diligently occupied in some activity. Getting close enough to observe but not disturb, I saw that Montana was using a short, thick stick to hammer a flatter stick. He would do this for a bit, look over toward the cage construction, and then continue, going at the exact same rhythm of the construction workers. Of course, Montana’s work did not turn into anything of practical use, but this apparent attempt at imitation and modification of his surroundings is an indication of his high intelligence.

Montana enjoying an iced treat!

Other favorite types of enrichment for Montana include termite mounds, iced treats, and food challenges. He works his way through every bit of enrichment without faltering. But one of the best ways to enrich Montana’s life is just to give him some personal interaction. His sweet nature comes out when he interacts with his caregivers. The relationships he has developed with a few select caregivers are good enough that they can hold his hands and playfully grapple with him through his enclosure’s iron bars.

In the wild, Montana would not have so many pleasant interpersonal interactions. Wild adult male orangutans live totally lives, only consorting with females for a short period of time to mate. If fully-grown adult males confront each other in the forest, it can result in vicious fights and/or flight. Because of his disabilities, we are not confident that Montana would be able to defend himself in the wild. But we are diligently looking for ways to get him released. As OFI buys more and more forested land, we are looking for areas where there are not currently dominant adult males. Another option would be to build a large enclosure in the forest so that Montana could move through the trees more freely. We would probably have to supplement him with food, but at least this would be a life much closer to freedom than what is he is living now.

When Montana was shot at and severely injured as a youngster, the people holding the shotgun surely were not thinking about what the act would mean for Montana. He could have spent more years under his mother’s care, learning forest skills and observing adult males when they crossed paths. Today he could be roaming freely as a strong dominant male, king of his own tract of forest. We are fighting to make at least parts of this life come true for Montana. Such a sweet, intelligent guy deserves all the restitution we humans can offer.

After I grew up and finished school, I volunteered to help OFI in its communications program at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine in Pasir Panjang, Central Borneo. The occasion to go to Camp Leakey arose  because in February 2013, an an ophthalmologist (specialized eye doctor), Dr. Izak Ventner, visited the OCCQ to perform operations on orangutans with serious eye problems, like cataracts. One of the orangutans to be operated on was Siswi, a free-ranging orangutan who lives in the forest around Camp Leakey. Siswi was transported to the OCCQ for the surgery. Unfortunately, when Dr. Ventner examined Siswi, he found that her bad eye could not be operated on because the retina was not functional. However, he stitched up a long gash on Siswi’s face, which may have been the result of a run-in with a gibbon. Once she was fully healed, Dr. Galdikas prepared a team to return her to Camp Leakey. I got to go along for the mission.

During the car ride from the OCCQ to the port town of Kumai, I sat on the edge of my seat and could not wipe the silly grin off of my face. I was on the way to the place which I had dreamed of for so long! Soon I found myself wedged in between a speedboat driver and Dr. Galdikas. As we crossed Kumai Bay, an estuary on the Java Sea, and progressed on to the Sekonyer River and Tanjung Puting National Park, I had to remind myself not to hold my breath. The boat sped through nipa palm forest, where the massive palm fronds slapped together in the wind like whispered applause. Eventually we entered the more biologically diverse peat swamp forest, where the acidic water was now completely black and reflective. The trip took well over an hour but did not seem long enough. I could not stop smiling and crying tears of joy as my dream came true.

But things only got more interesting when we arrived at Camp Leakey. As we walked along boardwalks, passed buildings and signposts, and spotted orangutans high up in the trees, my memory compared all those real images to the ones I had seen in books or in my own imagination as a child. Siswi, who had been transported to Camp Leakey earlier in the day, was already waiting for us when we arrived to release her back into her home. Siswi is a truly remarkable orangutan with an interesting story. She can be seen in the IMAX film “Born to be Wild” sharing noodles and playfully wrestling with Dr. Galdikas. Local tour guides fondly refer to her as the “receptionist” because of her tendency to place herself right on the dock where the tour boats arrive. While she has a well-developed social life with the orangutans living in the forest around Camp Leakey, she spends a lot of time near the camp itself and has friendships with many of the staff who live and work there. Her preference for both human and orangutan companionship is unique, and gives us the opportunity to relate more to her species and to the wild world through our interactions with her.

After spending a few weeks in a cage while her wound healed, Siswi was very ready to be back home! The final checks and preparations were made before Dr. Galdikas said a few ceremonial words and opened Siswi’s transport cage. Camp Leakey staff clapped as the pot-bellied Siswi made her way immediately into the nearby trees. There she stayed until all the people disappeared, looking from face to face and into the forest around her. Dr. Galdikas commented that she seemed to be processing everything that had happened to her recently. Maybe she was wondering what had been happening at Camp Leakey during her time away. How strange the whole ordeal must have seemed from her perspective!

Darkness had fallen when we loaded back into the speedboats to start the trip back to the OCCQ. This time I had a seat in the back, facing the forest that we were leaving behind. It was a clear night, with the moon providing only a sliver of dim light. Leaning over the edge of the boat to look forward, I noticed that the lights from the speedboat lamps were hitting both the surrounding forest and the black, mirror-like water in a way that produced a magical effect. The sky formed a black backdrop for the white-barked trees, making their reflection on the black waters of the river stark and beautiful. It looked as if the trees were growing both upwards and downwards. I pulled the hood of my rain jacket around my face to block out everything except this surreal sight. It was truly an otherworldly beauty, like something you would read about in a fantasy novel. I imagined I was in a dream world far out in space, where all of the white, eerily beautiful trees grow for many meters in two directions in perfect symmetry. As the boat sped along the river I pictured myself flying straight through the middle of this imaginary world, and I started to make up all of the creatures and civilizations that might exist there. It was a culmination of my day of childlike wonder. I forgot all concerns of the outside world and was content to live in this imaginary one for a spell. When we arrived back at the dock in Kumai, I was still smiling. All I could think about was how magical the entire experience had been.

The realities of orangutan and rainforest conservation are often daunting. Maintaining hope in the face of great challenges is not easy. But our fight to save species and ecosystems is strengthened when it is backed by a desire to protect that with which we have found a personal connection. To earn that connection, we must allow ourselves to look into another creature’s eyes and sense a commonality, and to become immersed in the wonder and mystery of the natural world. As we drift further from childhood we tend to distance ourselves from these feelings, but it is childlike fascination that gives us the drive to save wild places and wild species so that future generations may one day experience that same sense of awe. For me, learning about Siswi’s story, seeing her safely returned to her wild home, and having my childhood dreams fulfilled gave me a renewed sense of purpose. Humans have it in our power to reverse many of the harms we have inflicted upon the natural world and to save rare, spectacular, and valuable species from extinction. We just need to be reminded sometimes.

Jade on the morning of her release.

On February 15th, 2013 OFI returned four rehabilitated female orangutans to their forest home. In the week leading up to the big event I was able to get to know the personalities and histories of Jade, Liana, Kimba, and Noni – the four lucky orangutans set to be released. Jade and Liana had been in the same enclosure for a long time. Jade is a restless and curious adolescent who is always good-natured with her human and orangutan peers. Liana is a healthy, spry juvenile who often imitates the older, more skilled Jade. During daily forest releases at the OCCQ, both of these girls would move over great distances and build their own sleeping nests. They were always reluctant to return to their sleeping enclosures at the end of the day. As I got to know them, I knew that their companionship and love of the forest would help them immensely in their new wild life.

Caregiver Pak Mursiman passing along papaya leaves to Dr. Galdikas to accompany the orangutans to the release site.

Then there was Kimba and Noni, who had also lived in the same sleeping enclosure during most of their time at the OCCQ. I was particularly touched by their story. Both arrived at the OCCQ as infants after their mothers were killed when rainforest was cleared to make way for plantations. Noni was sick when she arrived, but with daily treatment she eventually regained her health. Throughout their infancy, one of Kimba and Noni’s primary caregivers was Ibu Sumi, who has worked with OFI for many years and now is Deputy Manager at the OCCQ. Ibu Sumi was still a teenager attending school at the time. She would sleep through the night with Kimba and Noni and then would return to their side as soon as she was done with the school day. She still remembers how Kimba would cry every day as she left for school. She and the infants’ other caregivers had become the best possible replacements for the mothers the babies had lost.

Over the years Kimba and Noni continued to live and grow together. Today Noni strikes me as a smart, responsive orangutan who never loses her calm. She has beautiful eyes and a healthy coat of orange hair. Kimba is more restless and devious. She always gets what she wants, and what she wants is usually food. She once escaped from her sleeping enclosure while caregivers entered it to put in some large enrichment. She made it all the way to the Care Center’s kitchen, where she did a bit of plundering before being taken back to her sleeping enclosure. Her headstrong personality and diligence in obtaining food will bode well for her in the wild, where finding food and asserting dominance will be of the utmost importance.

Kimba the morning of her release.

Liana on the morning of her release.

Ibu Sumi has remained friends with Kimba and Noni over the years and speaks especially fondly of Kimba. When I asked her how she felt about them being released back into the wild, she said she would be sad for them to leave, but she would be more sad if they didn’t have the chance at freedom again. With tears welling up in her eyes, she patted her chest and simply said, “I’m very, very happy.” Of Kimba she said, “She wants to be free.”

Then the day of freedom arrived. By this point all four orangutans had been in pre-release quarantine for over thirty days. They were kept away from other orangutans and only a few caregivers were allowed contact with them in order to prevent them from obtaining any communicable diseases before their release. They were tested for TB and hepatitis and all four came back with negative results. In fact, one of the reasons these females were chosen for release was their excellent health. Noni, Kimba, and Jade are all large, strong, and active. Liana is a bit behind the others in size, but otherwise is skilled and energetic. Ultimately, we knew she would do best if she was released with her long term friend Jade. At the end of thirty days of confinement, these orangutans were very restless. But soon they would be out of cages for good.

Transport cages being prepared and loaded.

In the morning on the day of the release, Liana, Kimba, and Noni were taken out of theirquarantine enclosures and moved into transport cages. Only two cages were used so that the roommates could make the long journey together. OCCQ staff had matted the floors of the transport cages with leafy branches. As the cages were loaded into the trucks, staff tied more branches over the tops of the cages to provide shade during the drive. Several caregivers who had been selected to monitor the girls for their first ten days in the wild jumped into the trucks, while the caregivers who stayed behind passed on some last-minute treats to accompany the orangutans during the journey. Like parents sending children off for college, they seemed reluctant to let the orangutans go.

Transport cages being prepared and loaded.

The trip to the release site is a long and bumpy one. The orangutans held on tight to their respective companions throughout the journey, and caregivers rode with them in the backs of the trucks to ensure safety. When we arrived at the release station, several men were needed to haul the transport cages into the forest where the girls were to be released. After a long day of travel, milk and fruit were waiting for them on a feeding platform to help ease them into their first night in the wild. Kimba and Noni were released first, followed by Jade and Liana. Their behavior was consistent with their personalities back at the OCCQ. Kimba and Noni went straight for the feeding platform. Noni remained calmly on the platform for quite a while, feeding leisurely and observing her surroundings nonchalantly. Kimba filled her mouth with as much milk as she could and moved immediately into the trees, as if she thought someone might try to take the milk back if she lingered. Jade and Liana, who had always been happiest in the forest canopy, bypassed the feeding platform completely and went promptly into the surrounding trees.

In time all four orangutans were mingling in the trees together. They wrestled in the vines and shook up the trees, causing several large branches to fall to the forest floor. We were pleasantly surprised to see them forming new friendships. The four climbed through the trees feeding on leaves with orangutans who were not their normal sleeping roommates. Liana and Kimba especially took a liking to each other and climbed together for a long time. Hopefully, these new bonds will make the transition to the wild easier.

It was not until after dark that the four females stopped playing and foraging and instead began to build their sleeping nests high up in the trees. The caregivers who would be monitoring and taking notes on the orangutans’ progress over the next ten days stayed behind to make sure they knew where to look for the girls in the morning. When the ten days were up, permanent field staff would continue keeping track of the orangutans’ progress during supplemental feedings, as long as the orangutans chose to stay nearby.

An anxious arm pokes out of the transport cage just moments before the release.

It was late at night when we loaded back into the trucks to make the long drive back to the OCCQ. I gazed out of my window into the surrounding trees, happily thinking back over how each orangutan reacted to her new home, and feeling optimistic about their future. But as we made our way along the quiet, empty roads, every now and then our headlights would illuminate big yellow trucks filled high over the brim with fruits from palm oil plantations. Sometimes I counted up to seven palm oil trucks passing in a row. Seeing the trucks was a sobering reminder of the challenges we still face in orangutan conservation. As we fight to rehabilitate and release orangutans, rainforest continues to be destroyed to make room for palm oil plantations, pulp and paper plantations, and agricultural expansion. As rainforest disappears, more orangutans are killed or injured by the humans who encounter them, and more orphaned orangutans wind up in our care. This is why OFI works tirelessly to buy and protect forested land and why we work with companies to educate them on what do if they encounter wild orangutans. It is equally important, if not more so, for consumers to be aware of the impact they have when they do or do not choose to buy products linked to rainforest destruction.

First steps into new home!

When I think about all that Kimba, Noni, Jade, and Liana have been through on their journey back to the wild, and all the love that caregivers like Ibu Sumi have shown them over the years, I can only hope that these four girls will never have to face the traumas of their infancy all over again. I hope that they start their own families and live the rest of their lives on their own terms. I hope that the day never comes when there is no more forest for the release of ex-captive orangutans.

This is what OFI fights for, and every bit of support we receive helps orangutans directly.

Satria several months ago

I cannot believe how much Satria has changed in the time that I have known him. His expressive face and hesitant curiosity made him stand out from the start. He was the type of infant that could be described as the “runt of the litter” because of his tiny size. He also seemed very fragile. This combination of fragility and small size always inspired my sympathy. However, in a short time Satria grew immensely, both in body and spirit. Today he is anything but fragile and tiny. His hijinks never fail to entertain. What used to be an orangutan among the most solemn of the solemn now spreads joy among the other infants in the Care Center as well as among the care givers.

A skinny and nearly hairless Satria in the arms of a caregiver, several months ago.

When I first met Satria in October 2012, he was skinny and scarcely had any hair on his body.  His saggy skin gave him a vulnerable appearance. For many orangutans at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ), regaining good health is not just a matter of receiving the proper nutrients and having plenty of time and freedom to exercise, but also involves their regaining emotional strength after the traumas that led them coming into our care. Some orangutans have a harder time than others, and Satria was one of those. We knew Satria needed to make emotional progress before he could make significant physical progress. Caregivers were diligent in giving him the extra attention and nurturing he needed to make this transition.

By the time December came, I still hadn’t noticed any change in Satria. Then I was away from the OCCQ for about a month, unable to see his progress. When I returned in the New Year I noticed one infant orangutan whom I did not recognize. He had thick, bright orange hair all over his body and hair that stood straight out, rather comically, on his head. For a small orangutan, he seemed to be very well built, with strong arms and legs. I wondered who this handsome new infant was. Upon getting closer to him I thought, No, surely this can’t be skinny little Satria!?But his caregivers verified his identity. It really was Satria!

Satria has turned into a hairy and boisterous little orangutan!

In the space of a month Satria’s physical health caught up to his emotional health . He transformed from a skinny, wide-eyed infant into a confident, fuzzy little boy. Satria became an energizer bunny! His rambunctious personality had not changed, but rather was amplified by his newfound vigor.

Today, Satria is a dominant personality on the playground and in the forest. I love taking Satria out for “forest school,” because each day his excitement at getting to play with all his orangutan and human friends increases. He does not have a preference between the jungle gym and the forest surrounding it. He just likes to be wherever the action is. Well, maybe he likes to be wherever others are, and then he brings in the action.

Part of the action involves wrestling. None of the other infant orangutans love wrestling quite as much as Satria does. It doesn’t matter what your age or whether you’re human or orangutan, if you cross Satria’s path in the forest, you’re in for a fierce wrestling bout. Once Satria even tried to wrestle with a stray cat that had wandered into the Care Center forest. As soon as Satria grabbed the cat, the cat decided she was not cut out for orangutan forest school and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.

Satria’s brand of wrestling displays much goofy histrionics. He will dramatically flail his body onto his caregivers, a tactic that is less strategic and more about putting on a show and having lighthearted fun than about intimidation. Sometimes when caregivers are sitting on the ground, Satria will throw his hands in the air, and then – as if in slow motion – allow his whole body to free-fall, seemingly without any concern whether he lands softly on his intended victim, or hard on the ground (which does happen occasionally).

Satria is even dramatic in the way he forages for food. Sometimes he moves hurriedly and deliberately in one direction as if he were on an important mission. After reaching his destination he will halt, linger for a moment, and just sit down to munch on a leaf. I suspect this sort of behavior is actually a ruse to give him time to plan his next wrestling trick. Indeed, even when he is calmly snacking on some leaves, he might launch an attack moments later. I have seen him charge while foraging with a big stick in his mouth, as if the stick gave him confidence.

Satria with a fern stem in his mouth

I eventually noticed that Satria and his closest friends have a favorite meeting place. There is a thick clump of bushes with a little gap in the middle that provides just enough room for a small group of infant orangutans to play out of sight of everyone else. I have affectionately come to think of this spot as “the fort,” because it reminds me of a similar hideaway I had as a child. Satria is definitely the ringleader of the infants at the fort. As soon as he enters, two or three others follow suit. They sometimes stay in that fort for hours, either wrestling or sitting together and picking at the leaves around them. In these silent moments I always think of the schemes and make-believe worlds I concocted in my own childhood forts. I wonder if these infant orangutans are doing the same.

Because he loves so much being in the thick of things, Satria does not spend as much time as others foraging in the trees. Usually he wanders off to climb alone only if someone has upset him by not being an adequately enthusiastic wrestling partner. Luckily, his grudges never last long.

Satria will eventually have to take a liking to climbing and foraging on his own if he wants to develop the skills necessary to be a wild orangutan. But right now he is still several years away from a permanent release into the wild. Zeal and a competitive nature – two things Satria has in abundance – are also critical to the success of wild adult male orangutans. Those are traits that are difficult to teach. So for now, we’re more than happy to watch this boy be a boy, and delighted to be entertained by his constant antics.

When I watch Satria play, I smile thinking about how far he has come. His transformation is a testament to how effective the care of staff at the OCCQ can be. Every donation made to OFI helps us provide better care to the orangutans who need it the most. We are so grateful to those who make it easier for us to bring orphaned orangutan infants like Satria back into good health. It is the only way they can become the vivacious, energetic individuals they were born to be and get a second chance at a successful, happy life in the wild.

Thank you so much for the support that allowed Satria to become healthy again.

Release Camp Seluang Mas, all decked out on “opening day” when release of five orangutans took place

Orangutan Arms Coming out of Transport Cages in Anticipation of Release

Four Transport Cages in front of Small Bridge leading to Release Site with OFI Ranger

The Walk to Freedom: OFI Rescue and Release Teams Carry Transport Cages to Release Site

Crowd Excitement Grows in Anticipation of Orangutan Releases

Russell and Peregi came out of their cage first. Both immediately went up into the trees without hesitation after climbing onto the newly built feeding station, totally ignoring the bounty of rambutan fruits (a fleshy, sweet local fruit similar to lychees) piled high on the feeding platform.

Russell looking down from the canopy

The next three orangutans were released from individual transport cages. Jumadi also went straight from the feeding platform into the trees.

Jumadi in Trees Looking Down after Release

Jusman Could Not Resist the Rambutans Piled High on the Feeding Platform

Good-natured Ziko Looking Down, Reflecting on his Changed World

The gathered crowd which included OFI staff, local government officials, and P.T. Smart managers as well as journalists clapped as each orangutan was released and made his way into the trees.

After the orangutans started to move away from the release location, OFI rangers gave several of the orangutans freshly washed mangoes.

Jumadi and Ziko enjoying their mangoes after release

Ten OFI rangers, in sets of two, made an attempt to follow and observe each released orangutan for ten days in order to ensure that the orangutans made a successful adaptation to the wild. Ziko, Jumadi, Russell, and Jusman stayed close to the feeding station after release while Peregi came to the ground and wouldn’t let the two OFI rangers observing him get close. As soon as they moved closer, he would run south as fast as his legs would carry him. Ziko, Jumadi, and Russell play fought and wrestled in the canopy, clearly enjoying their new found freedom after a month in pre-release quarantine. They seemed somewhat confused, but exuberant, clearly understanding that this was different from the day releases they had experienced at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine when they were brought back to their sleeping cages late afternoon. In the words of one observer, “Everyone was excited!” I think it also included the people watching the release. The joy and excitement of release was contagious.

But release into the wild also has its pitfalls as Russell, who had moved off by himself, soon discovered. He encountered a large wild flanged (cheek-padded) male. Russell fled in the trees, seemingly fleeing for his life, as soon as he saw the male. Shortly afterwards, the male long-called, probably scaring Russell even more.

“Scary” Wild Cheek-padded Adult Male Orangutan Caused Russell to flee for his life!

Over the next few days Jusman disappeared into the swamps, eluding his OFI observers. The other four released orangutans came to most of the feedings at the second feeding station, about 500 meters from the first station where they were initially released. They each made night nests in the general vicinity of the camp.

Jusman on Forest Floor Looking Back at OFI Rangers Observing His Progress in the Wild

It’s been exactly two months as I write this since the five wild born adolescent male orangutans returned to the forest. All five “releasees” are in good shape. Only Jusman, who disappeared for a few weeks, seemed to have had somewhat of a bad adventure. He was located in the palm oil plantation looking a bit thin and disoriented. But after attending feedings consistently for a short while, he recovered and looks healthy again.

The joy of release has not faded. The five adolescent males are still play-fighting and carousing in the canopy, enjoying the freedom they so much deserve.

All Our Hopes for a Successful Life in the Wild Go to You, Russell, and Your Four Newly Released Orangutan Buddies!

There is a noticeable contrast between Rangda’s behaviors when he is exploring on the ground as compared to when he is climbing in the trees. On the forest floor, Rangda’s movements are quite delicate. He walks slowly and deliberately, and when he finds a leaf or flower to eat, he pulls it apart very carefully. But when Rangda is high up in the trees – where acting rashly could result in serious consequences – he throws caution to the wind! Even when I can’t actually see Rangda, I can hear branches cracking and leaves tearing from his general direction. One of his favorite maneuvers is to climb high to the tops of thin, dead, branchless trees, where he can build up the momentum to swing the whole tree into a neighboring tree. But while some of his friends can pull off this trick gracefully by sweeping the thin trees around in broad circles, Rangda’s method involves a lot of erratic flailing. He throws an arm out clumsily in one direction, which usually sways the tree just enough for him to grab on to the ends of the leaves in a neighboring tree, but not much further. Often his technique is so poor that he never succeeds in transferring to another tree, but perhaps that is not even his intent. Rangda’s funny way of climbing may just be an expression of his carefree nature. He can wait until he gets older to be concerned about more practical pursuits (like finding fruit) while he is in the trees.

Rangda (back turned) relaxing in seclusion with his friend Voyce.

Rangda’s climbing is made even more complicated by his tendency to multitask. Instead of resting for a moment when he finds a nice bunch of edibles, he stuffs it all in his mouth – whether it’s little green seeds or whole pineapple halves – and munches on it as he climbs along. Rangda also prefers to play with his friends up in the trees rather than on the ground, where wrestling would be less risky. His favorite climbing buddy is Voyce, and the two can often be seen tangled up in a mass of vines, wrestling and playfully biting each other. I once saw Rangda get pushed out of the vines during one of these wrestling bouts. He crashed down into a heap of sticks on the forest floor, lay there for a moment (perhaps regaining his pride), and scrambled right back up the vines to continue the game!

Many of the young orangutans enjoy playing in little pools of muddy water that they happen across on the forest floor, but none love it quite so much as Rangda. Sometimes Rangda displays his normal ground-dwelling delicacy when he investigates a puddle. If he just wants a drink of the water, he will spread all four limbs out wide along the edge of the pool, balancing along its border, and then stick his face way out until he can just barely stick his lips into the water. But other times Rangda forgets about any desire to stay clean. I once watched as he sat beside a muddy pool, doing what I can only describe as making “mud soup.” He tore leaves off of the surrounding vegetation to throw into the pool and splashed it around with his hands. He then added some twigs and took a sip of his muddy concoction, just like a chef test-tasting a meal. Apparently dissatisfied, Rangda threw in more leaves, blew some bubbles in the water, stamped around in it with his feet, and then took another sip. Sometimes he would make his additions or stamp through his soup at a leisurely pace, and other times he did so quite vigorously. He kept with this activity for a good twenty minutes, displaying more dedication to one task than you usually see in orangutans his age or older! In the end, he seemed to decide that no matter what you add to it and how you mix it, muddy water just does not taste good.

Rangda is not one of the more attention-seeking orangutans at the OCCQ, but if you make a deliberate effort to spend time with him, you can quickly pick up on his unique antics and characteristics. When you do, you find that he is quite a special little orangutan, full of endearing quirks!

Boncel and Josmik’s move was necessitated by the condition of their old enclosure. When the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) was first built, we only anticipated caring for infant and juvenile orangutans, and far fewer orangutans than we care for today. Yet because it is difficult to find forest release sites, and because many adult orangutans are brought to us in poor physical and emotional condition, we now care for a number of fully-grown, incredibly strong orangutans.

These individuals live in enclosures made out of iron rather than wood, because of iron’s great strength. But over a decade of use in the humid tropical conditions has caused the enclosures to deteriorate and rust. This makes moving around the enclosure more difficult for the orangutans and easier for them to break out of the cages and escape. Without a doubt, these enclosures are not meant to be permanent homes. We hope one day to release or translocate every orangutan in our care. However, for an orangutan to escape his/her enclosure preemptively would be potentially hazardous not only for that orangutan, but also for the humans at the OCCQ.

Thus, over the past several months we have raised the money necessary to rebuild these old enclosures, and then to move the orangutans living there into new ones. The new enclosures are built out of galvanized steel, which will prevent rusting and will hold up much better than the old iron ones. These steel enclosures are ideal for the biggest and strongest orangutans, and allow for more freedom of movement. When the basic construction is finished, staff and volunteers build and install permanent enrichment – like platforms, barrel hammocks, and tire ladders – so that the orangutans have plenty of opportunities to exercise and relax. Once these features are in place, the enclosure is ready for its new occupants.

Boncel and Josmik’s new enclosure.

Boncel and Josmik are two male orangutans who urgently needed a home renovation. On the day of their big move, our team of staff bustled around in preparation. Because of their massive size and strength, but also because this was a rare opportunity for the veterinarians to do a basic health check, both Boncel and Josmik were tranquilized for the move. After consulting the males’ health records, the veterinarians prepared tranquilizer and brought a scale out to the transfer location. Caretakers prepared fruit and other treats to calm the orangutans and help the transfer run as smoothly as possible.

After caretakers coaxed Boncel and Josmik down to the floor of their enclosure with fruit, it was time for them to be tranquilized. Staff members used a traditional Dayak method: blow darting. Two staff members who are skilled in this procedure waited until Boncel and Josmik were calm and on the floor of the enclosure to shoot the darts. They hit their targets with no problems, and we waited for the tranquilizer to take its effect.

OFI Staff member preparing to shoot tranquilizer.

Josmik was the first to be darted and to go under. Josmik and Boncel have been friends for a long time, and have lived together for the better part of ten years. Boncel has full cheekpads while Josmik is smaller and hasn’t yet fully developed flanges. So naturally, Boncel was concerned when he saw that Josmik was unresponsive, and he went to Josmik’s side and began to shake him. This was a scary and troubling moment for all of the onlookers. We were sorry that Boncel had to go through this stress, and worried that Josmik might be hurt in Boncel’s attempts to revive him. Caregivers did what they could to distract Boncel, and soon enough he passed out as well. Neither orangutan was hurt, but this type of situation highlights how difficult it is to work with adult captive orangutans, even when all precautions are taken.

As soon as we were sure that both Boncel and Josmik were anesthetized , staff moved very quickly to get the transfer done before either of them awoke. Several strong men worked together to remove the orangutans one at a time from the enclosure. The orangutans were then carefully hoisted onto the back of one man, who stood them on a scale so the veterinarians could calculate the orangutan’s weight. Then they were placed in comfortable recovery positions on the floor of their new enclosure. This entire process was completed in just a few short minutes!

Josmik’s transfer.

Boncel’s transfer.

Caretakers and veterinarians ensuring that Boncel and Josmik are ready for the recovery process.

While they were still under anesthetic, veterinarians did some last checks on the orangutans’ health. Caregivers prepared plenty of fruit, branches, and liquids for Boncel and Josmik once they awoke. Within an hour, both orangutans were awake, but quite drowsy. A caregiver remained near the enclosure throughout the rest of the day to monitor Boncel and Josmik as they regained energy and began to eat and explore their new enclosure. By the next day, the two were back to normal, eating heartily and enjoying their new home wirh its enrichment!

Boncel and Josmik slowly waking up and receiving nourishment from caregivers.

Boncel and Josmik fully recovered and enjoying their new enclosure!

Many of the larger-scale problems orangutans face, like deforestation and poaching, are so complex that there are rarely clear answers on how to even begin addressing them. But for many of the challenges of orangutan care at the OCCQ, we have a clear roadmap on how to improve conditions, as long as we can acquire enough funds to carry out our plans.

Over the next several months we hope to rebuild the remaining old iron enclosures and move many orangutans into more secure ones. While we have all of the desire and skill available to make this happen, we do not yet have funds in place: each new enclosure built of galvanized steel costs approximately ten thousand US dollars.

We thank our German sister organization “Orangutans in Peril” for funding the new galvanized steel cage for Boncel and Josmik.

In this season of giving, please consider making a donation to OFI so that we might continue to build newer, safer homes for the orangutans in our care. These enclosures help ensure that the orangutans will develop into individuals who will one day be prepared to return permanently to the wild. To those donors who have enabled the building of new enclosures over the past year, please accept our tremendous gratitude on Boncel and Josmik’s, as well as many other orangutans’ behalf.

Uci is at a maturity level comparable to a human teenager, a comparison made all the more obvious by the way she interacts with other orangutans. In the wild, orangutans of this age typically begin to leave their mothers’ side to spend their days alone or – especially for females – in the company of other adolescent orangutans. Just like many human females of the same maturity, Uci enjoys traveling in the company of friends, but she is not cliquey or picky about her companions. She munches on leaves with Gabel, braves little swamps with Berman, sits dozens of meters up in the trees – just relaxing and enjoying the view – with Mercedes, or playfully crashes through vines and branches with Xena. Uci just loves to interact with her peers!

On several occasions Uci has provided interesting examples of orangutan intelligence. Of all the great apes (which includes orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees,and bonobos), intelligence has been least studied in orangutans. Unlike their well-studied chimpanzee cousins, there are very few recorded instances of orangutans making and using tools (e.g. rocks to crack nuts or sticks to probe holes for termites)in the wild. Therefore, every instance of observed tool use in orangutans is notable. One day, while out in the forest with a caregiver, Uci discovered a termite nest and stopped on the forest floor to forage for some extra protein. After breaking up the semi-underground nest, she gathered up the termites with her hand and feverishly licked them off her fingers. Wondering if she might prefer a method with less direct contact, her caregiver picked up a stick, stuck it into the ant nest, and then brought it to Uci’s face so she could lick off the ants. After repeating this a few times, Uci seemed to catch on to the method, so her caregiver handed the stick to her. After contemplating the stick for a moment, she took a munch out of it and moved on!

Several weeks later, I was out in the forest with Uci and was thinking about this very story when I saw Uci picking something out of a small hollow in a tree and then licking it off her fingers. She paused from this activity to yank a small fern branch off a neighboring tree. I froze with anticipation as Uci returned to the original tree and jabbed the fern branch into the hole. Unfortunately, she was not persistent enough to have much success, and soon stuck the empty fern in her mouth and climbed away. It seems that Uci will have to be a champion for her species’ tool-using some other day!

Uci examining a hollow in a tree.

Uci is skilled in many ways. She is a calm, adept climber and spends the majority of her forest time in the tree canopy. She is fond of straddling two nearby trees or vines to survey the forest before her. As she travels with her friends, she takes her time to sample every fruit, seed, and leaf that they pass by. Indeed, Uci’s caregivers joke that all she likes to do is eat! And she can be very cunning in the way she obtains food. I have seen her snatch others’ fruit – and even caregivers’ water bottles – away from them with such speed that the victims need a few moments to process what happened to them. But these theft episodes are uncommon, and Uci really is quite competent in finding her own food and building her own sleeping nests. She is gentle with her caregivers, but seeks out their attention only infrequently. For an orangutan her age, this is a good sign. In the wild, she would also be becoming independent around this time.

With so much forest aptitude, we hope that Uci can make a permanent return to her forest home one day soon!

Just a month ago, Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) staff in Borneo were met with this very situation as fires blazed at the edge of the Rawa Kuno Legacy Forest, a tract of mixed type rainforest that we have been trying to secure for the past year. When forest fires start, as they do now almost every year in Borneo, they cause extensive environmental and social damage, and pose a particular threat to endangered orangutans.

Causes and Consequences of Borneo’s Forest Fires

In the middle of the 20^th century, Borneo was still an island dominated by ancient, pristine rainforests. Traditional Dayak farming methods had left the forests almost entirely intact for centuries. But in the 1980s and 1990s Borneo underwent a drastic transition as industrialized nations became interested in its forest resources. Forests were felled at a rate far surpassing the deforestation rate in any other place in the world at any other point in human history. The demand for timber, palm oil, paper pulp, rubber, and minerals meant that the homes of a huge diversity of plant and animal life – as well as of indigenous people – were degraded or destroyed.

Virgin (or “primary”) rainforest is not usually vulnerable to forest fires. But where trees have been felled, secondary forest and bush takes its place – vegetation that is much more prone to drying out, and thus burning easily in drought conditions. Today, fires are set regularly by people in agricultural areas and in degraded forests by commercial developers for large-scale forest conversion (particularly for palm oil plantations). Once fires start, they can easily run out of control and spread to adjacent forests.

When fire starts on already degraded land, in today’s increasingly prevalent dry conditions due to global climate change (spurred by activities such as deforestation), and in land under poor management, a chain reaction begins.  More and more rainforest burns.  In 1997/1998, over 6 million hectares of forest in Borneo went up in flames.

Over twenty million hectares of Borneo’s forests – including the forest of Rawa Kuno – is peat swamp forest, or peatland. Peat is the organic matter (e.g. leaves or wood) that covers the forest floor and remains only partially decomposed due to the waterlogged and acidic conditions found in these forests. Peat deposits can go several meters deep into the forest floor, taking up to 20,000 years to form. When peat swamp forests are drained for agriculture, these massive amounts of material dry out and become tinder for blazing fires. Peat burns at very high temperatures.  Because peat goes so deep, it can burn unseen underground, starting in one place, and then unexpectedly cropping up as an aboveground forest fire at some distant location. Thus, wildfires in peat swamp forest are very dangerous.  These fires can smolder for years under the ground. One estimate claims that one square meter of burning peat can take up to 200 to 300 liters of water to extinguish. Because peat deposits take thousands of years to form, peat swamp forests, once burned, are not easily renewed.

These regular fires leave a smoky haze hovering over the areas where they burn, and create pollution over more remote areas when pushed there by strong winds. In Borneo’s colossal fires of 1997-1998, smoke covered an area of 2,000 by 4,000 kilometers.  Pollution of this magnitude not only left hundreds of thousands of people across Borneo with significant respiratory problems, but also prevented fires from being extinguished through natural means. Soot particles in smoke caused small water droplets in clouds to condense, preventing the buildup of large droplets. It is the large droplets which fall as rain that puts out fires – another link in a vicious cycle of rainforest fire.

Borneo’s wildfires are a threat to humans beyond the severe health risks. Just as fire spreads to forest, fire also spreads to agricultural lands, thereby damaging the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. And as more forest disappears, the livelihoods of the few remaining traditional groups of indigenous people come under threat as well.

In some areas of the world, like northern boreal forest in Canada and Russia, fires occur naturally and are now managed by governments because these fires serve an important ecological function. But fires are not meant to occur in rainforest ecosystem. It takes rainforests millennia to fully recover from being cleared by fire. This means great losses among some of the most unique plant and animal life in the world. As we lose forests and the biodiversity that sustains them, we lose important ecosystem services. The valuable natural resources of rainforests do not replenish quickly. They  will be totally exhausted if we continue to extract them at an unsustainable rate. Rainforests play important roles in global climate regulation, disease control, and pollination.  Rainforests serve as “carbon sinks”, meaning they store carbon in organic material, preventing it from entering the atmosphere as greenhouse gas. But as soon as forests are felled or catch fire, they create threats on a global scale.

Burning peat forest is particularly harmful. Peat deposits store huge amounts of carbon below ground. When peat burns, this is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. In the infamous fires of 1997-1998, between 0.8 and 2.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere. Globally, the clearance of peatlands (by fire or logging) contributes about 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Such large-scale emissions maintain the negative effects of climate change around the world.

Of particular concern for OFI are the forest fires which destroy orangutan habitat, pushing orangutans out of the forest and into unsuitable habitats like palm oil plantations, where they come into conflict with humans. Most of the orphans at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) are brought to OFI because of the clashes that arise between orangutan survival and human development. Every new orphan that comes into our care center is a signal that forest is disappearing. As fires and development destroy more forest, we are increasingly hard-pressed to secure suitable habitat to release these orphans once they are recovered and become old enough to return to the wild.

 WHAT is OFI Doing to Fight the Fires?

When fires broke out at the east and southeast edges of the Rawa Kuno Legacy Forest, OFI staff stepped up to the cause, although no one had any formal training in fighting fires. Some locals helped in the effort, but were generally afraid of the extreme heat and the unpredictability of the fires. There was no direct government support.

Almost every male member of the OCCQ staff, including the manager, helped in the effort. For over a month, men were fighting the fires relentlessly on site for up to ten days at a time. They were able to use water from the recently excavated trench surrounding Rawa Kuno to fight the fires. But because fires continued to burn underground and re-emerged at different locations, the fight was long and grueling.  OFI staff, who remained at the OCCQ, including the women, made trips to and from the fire sites to supply the fire-fighters with food and drinking water. Exhausted fire fighters took the little sleep they could afford on the ground beneath the cover of tarps, with smoke filling their lungs the entire time. Only when the rainy season started in October were the fires finally extinguished. Without the rain, the fight  would have gone on much longer.

Thanks to OFI’s donors we were able to have a trench in place surrounding the Rawa Kuno forest. This trench was primarily meant to help OFI rangers patrol the Legacy Forest by boat to detect trespassers attempting to log or hunt, but it turned out to be absolutely crucial in our fire fighting efforts. Without this trench, staff would have had to bring in water from farther away, or drill bore holes deep into the ground to pump out water. These options would have taken much more time, money, and person power  than we had and ultimately would have proved much less efficient.  It was the rain that ultimately saved Rawa Kuno, but much more forest would have been lost without the water supplied from this trench. If you donated for the Rawa Kuno forest or in response to our plea for help with the forest fires, we sincerely thank you!

Wildfires in Borneo have become, more or less, an annual occurrence.  As locals become  accustomed to facing the constant haze and difficult breathing conditions from fire for weeks and months at a time, they talk about the fire season just like any other season. The forests under OFI’s protection will likely be threatened with fire in the future.  We want to be fully prepared. This year we found ourselves scrambling to get enough hoses, ropes, and pumps to fight the fires. We were completely lacking in some key equipment which would have made the work much more efficient.  We will equip ourselves better so that we will be ready to respond even more quickly once the fire season roars into view! And it will, probably will, sooner  rather than later!  Without really being aware of it, we have become fire-fighters!  And to fight the fires efficiently, we need your help!

But there are a few orangutans who stray from this norm, and their leader is a fearless girl named Silver.

Within seconds of arriving at the jungle gym, Silver races away for the densest bits of forest and the tallest trees, where she can spend hours exploring. I am always struck by the confidence shown by Silver as she embarks on these journeys. She knows this forest, and moves with such deliberation that you might think she spends her mornings planning where to go that day. After a short stop at a popular mud pit to get a little (or a lot) dirty and wrestle with some of the other orangutans, Silver starts her upward expedition. This girl can climb, and she does not let her talents go to waste!

It is really a marvel to watch Silver in the trees. She bravely flies from vine to vine, shimmies upside down along the thick vines connecting trees, and dangles from the thinnest branches if it helps her get to a particular fruit or bunch of leaves she covets. One of her favorite maneuvers is to climb to the tops of small, dead, dried-out trees that have lost all their branches. She then starts rocking back and forth until the whole tree is swaying in great sweeps from side to side. Her caregivers hold their breath as she does this, fearing that the tree might crack!  But Silver always gets enough momentum to latch onto another tree before catastrophe strikes.

Silver is always looking for food. Even while she is being carried to and from “forest school,” she constantly reaches out at passing trees for small tidbits. She displays smarts beyond her age in her ability to find food, and is interested in eating absolutely everything! I have seen Silver enthusiastically munching on every kind of leaf and fruit, mud, and even bits of waterlogged wood! But, true to her age, Silver is most fond of the milk that her caregivers bring her several times every day.

 When I follow Silver into the forest, every now and then she looks up into my eyes and softly squeezes my hand. Maybe she is looking for reassurance, but I like to think she is actually reassuring me, and inviting me to accompany her on her journey. Silver displays this same sort of gentle leadership amongst her orangutan friends. She is the example that many of them follow in summoning the courage to venture further into the forest, and she is always patiently accepting of followers. When she wrestles with others, she is never too rough. Indeed, Silver has both the personality and skills to make her an excellent mother far in the future, when she is grown and wild once again.

As I look up from the forest floor at the faraway hint of orange that I know to be Silver, everything seems so peaceful compared to the chaos of the jungle gym where most of Silver’s friends are engaged in raucous play. My ears are filled with the heavy drone of cicadas, the distant songs of birds, and the soft crash of leaves as Silver moves through the branches above me. When forest school is over and I finally convince Silver to come down from the trees (which takes a very long time), she sits in my arms with her eyes still looking toward the forest canopy. The expression on her face is so serene and content – a result of the hours of bliss spent up above. You can tell by looking into her wise eyes that Silver has been through a lot for one so young, but that she still has the drive to grow and explore. In these moments I smile, dreaming of the day years from now when Silver will be released to the wild. I don’t believe she’ll need any convincing. This girl is the definition of a free spirit; she won’t even look back.

With your support, we can keep Silver happy and healthy – and protect the forest that will one day be her home – until that day comes!