Orang Utan

Saving the Heart of Borneo

2008-05-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

A more pitiful sight it is hard to imagine. Just five months old, tiny Monyong blinks in the harsh equatorial sunlight. Her arm is bandaged - the result of a hunters bullet that killed her mother and shattered Monyong's humerus bone.

She stares up at Jimmy, her handler who works in the WWF field office, and purses her lips. Her bright eyes dart left and right in what is clearly bewilderment.

Monyong - an Indonesian word that translates as "lippy", from her endearing habit of pursing her mouth and blowing kisses - is an orang-utan. And the fact she is here illustrates the brutal story of the destruction of one of the world's last true wildernesses.

For it is a grim time to be an orang-utan, one of the four species of great apes who are mankind's closest relatives. Native only to Sumatra and Borneo, the huge, shaggy orange-haired tree-dwellers are under threat.

Monyong was very fortunate, the hunters tried to sell her to the local WWF offices in western Borneo after hearing false rumours that they would pay good money. WWF staff convinced them to hand her over for nothing. Now, given luck, Monyong's arm will heal and she will begin the slow process of rehabilitation. But the fate of individual animals is less important than that of their forests.

Disappearing forest

A World Bank report in 2001 estimated that, by 2010, all the lowland forest in this huge, wild island will be gone, and by 2020 there will be no habitat left outside protected areas in the vast upland wildernesses of Borneo, as loggers continue to destroy the forests at a terrifying rate.

Miraculously, just as there is hope for Monyong, there's also a glimmer of optimism for her habitat. I had come to Borneo, the orang's heartland, to learn the extraordinary story of WWF's attempt to protect the last big wild redoubt of this most charismatic and endearing of creatures.

Rugged hills, carpeted with magnificent forests, straddle the boundary along much of the Indonesia-Malaysia border in the very heartland of Borneo. Most of the island's rivers are born here as rocky, whitewater streams, maturing as they flow down into the lowlands where they supply freshwater ecosystems throughout Borneo, as well as forming the waterways for the boats of Dayaks and other peoples.

In this unspoiled part of Borneo, upriver longhouses nestle along riverbanks and a patchwork of traditional shifting cultivation disturbs the forest without destroying it. Here, the cries of the gibbons still can be heard through the early morning mist, eagles and hornbills still can be seen, and the forests themselves still retain their magnificent natural architecture across millions of hectares of the least accessible land.

WWF and the Heart of Borneo

There is only one place on the planet where the forests of Southeast Asia can be protected on a large enough scale to be permanently viable. It straddles the transboundary highlands of Indonesia and Malaysia, and reaches out through the foothills into adjacent lowlands and to parts of Brunei. WWF calls this area the Heart of Borneo.

WWF is working with Borneo's three governments to protect one of the last great wilderness areas in Asia - covering 220,000 sq km (about the size of the UK,) - through a network of protected areas and well-managed, productive forest to ensure the survival of Borneo's unique biodiversity. The idea is that by 2006, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei (the three nations that own Borneo) will issue a declaration, creating one of the world's largest and richest national parks.

Based in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, WWF's Stuart Chapman is coordinating a dedicated team intent on delivering this ambitious mission for the Borneo forests.

"We want to protect this area while it is still whole and functioning as it has for thousands of years," he says.

"This is one of the last great forest wildernesses on Earth - along with the Congo and the Amazon. And it is much more vulnerable because it is an island."

Stuart Chapman took me to see this huge, beautiful, daunting forest at the heart of Borneo, where no tourists venture and where you can find truly wild orang-utans.

In the Heart of Borneo

We headed into the Betung Kerihun National Park, a protected area that forms one small part of the proposed "heart of Borneo".

We were hundreds of miles from civilisation - an exhilarating feeling, but also distinctly worrying. Trekking in this forest is far from easy: there are pretty green shrubs that slice your fingers to ribbons when you touch them, and fine stems covered with razor-sharp barbs that dangle down and cut into your face. If you put your hand down it will be covered with stinging ants or leeches. But worst of all is the heat. By 7am, it was over 30 degrees, and the humidity had me drenched in sweat.

Subdued by these tough conditions, it then came as a moment of indescribable elation when finally we saw three orang-utans - a youngster, aged perhaps four or five, its mother, and a large male.

The first sign that you are near an orang-utan is a tremendous rustling in the tree canopy, 30 metres or more overhead. They are great climbers but, weighing up to 100kg, orang-utans find life in the treetops precarious. Around us crashed great chunks of foliage as the animals tested branches for strength.

The sighting itself was fleeting - the mother, arms outstretched; a few minutes later, the male, swinging across the boughs, his huge jowls attesting to his age and strength. But fleeting though our encounter had been, suddenly the heat, humidity and leeches didn't matter.

Now or never

WWF's great project to save Borneo will require little short of a miracle. The declaration, which Stuart Chapman hopes will come in 2006, is only the first of many challenges to be met.

Tackling illegal logging is another - throughout our time in the rainforest the threat to this fragile habitat was evident. Huge rafts of logs clog every waterway, stamped and painted with the serial numbers of the illegal loggers.

There was much talk of the importance of "sustainable development" - a way of meeting the needs of people today without squandering natural resources for future generations - but this will take some doing in this very poor country .

To us, the demise of the last great ape of Asia would be a global tragedy. But to the thousands of people on this wild, beautiful island, people for whom clean water, medicines and electricity are still an unlikely dream, the fate of the "man of the forest" is of minimal importance.

"The full diversity of these forests cannot be maintained if they are reduced to a patchwork. The Heart of Borneo aims to maintain very large blocks of inter-connected forest, without which hundreds, or even thousands, of species become extinct. The Heart of Borneo will ensure water security, food security and cultural survival for the people of Borneo. This will help to alleviate poverty. In the long term, it will save the island from the ultimate threat of deforestation and increased impacts from droughts and fires," Stuart Chapman explained.

"We have to make the Heart of Borneo a political and economic reality before its too late. It really is now or never."

Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre

2008-03-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Orang Utan, The Wildman of BorneoOrang utans have long fascinated mankind. Known scientifically as Pongo Pygmaeus, they have been found to be 96.4% similar to our human genes. Gentle and shy by nature, sightings of orang utan in the wild are rare. However, one place you are guaranteed of seeing them is at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation centre.

The Sanctuary started in 1964 for rehabilitation of orphaned baby orang utans from logging-sites, plantations and illegal hunting, returning them to the wilds as soon as they’re ready. More than 4,500 hectares of virgin jungle were designated as forest reserve and sanctuary for these charming creatures.

Touching these creatures is discouraged to prevent the spread of human diseases to the creatures. There are some who have grown so fond of human company that they refuse to return to the wilds. Other semi-wild orang utans come to the Sanctuary twice daily from the forest for feedings of milk and bananas. If you would like to stay overnight to observe these creatures further, accommodation is available outside the sanctuary.

Conservation/Entrance Fee: RM10.00 per person.

Feeding time: 10.00am and 3.00pm

How to get there

Daily flights link to Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau from Kota Kinabalu or approximately 6 hours air-conditioned coach and mini bus transfer.The world’s largest orang utan rehabilitation center is just 40 minutes away from Sandakan Town. To visit, take a taxi or ‘sepilok’ buses from the station near Central Market in Sandakan.

Orang Utan Island

2008-03-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

AS IT was a Tuesday (when the Bukit Merah Resort runs on “minimal mode”), we decided to take the Eco Combo package, which allowed us to visit the Orang Utan Island and Ecopark and opt for a ride on either the Chairlift or Skycycle. The package costs RM19 and RM13 for adults and children respectively.

After buying our tickets at the main ticketing counter at Marina Village, we ventured to the main jetty to await our ride to Orang Utan Island. Boats leave every half an hour and it’s a 10-minute ride across the lake to the island.
The Orang Utan Island is exactly that – these intelligent primates literally have the run of the place. In a twist, it’s the visitors who will have to spend time in a cage, a 100m-long “cage tunnel” to be exact, to get an up close and personal look at the orang utans as they roam free here. There are 19 orang utans on the island at present, with four of them being island-born.

The island is 14ha (35 acres) across wide but only 2ha (5 acres) of it is used as a rehabilitation and preservation facility. This programme aims to develop and promote orang utan conservation, propagation, research education and eco-tourism by making the island into a breeding sanctuary for these animals.

“We are just into the fourth year of this programme,” said Bukit Merah Laketown Resort general manager Calvin Ho.

“The average rehabilitation programme takes up to five years. We teach the baby orang utans how to climb trees, forage for food in the wild by planting fruits at various places – whether up on trees or on platforms.

“The whole island is dedicated to the orang utans and future plans foresee these primates roaming the currently unused part of the island that is ‘wild’. This will be the ultimate test for the rehabilitated orang utans - to be able to survive in the jungle without human intervention whatsoever.”

Ho also said the orang utans are from Sarawak and most of them are “problem children”. Some were caged by their previous keepers because of bad behaviour, while two baby orang utans were initially kept as house pets in an apartment.

The orang utans that were treated as pets have been rehabilitated so they can live like … well, orang utans. Tasks such as climbing trees, which you would think came naturally to these primates, had to be relearned.

We had the pleasure of getting acquainted with these two during our visit to the island and both seemed to have adapted well to life as “real” orang utans, thanks to their (human) Mummy, Divanee Raman.

Meeting Carlos and Paulina

"This fella likes to bully me,” says Divanee as she playfully swings baby Carlos, a two-year-and-eight-month-old orang utan, onto her back like a sack of potatoes. The baby easily settles on her piggyback style as Paulina, the older of the two (by two months), hangs loose on a rope nearby.

Currently, these orang utan babies are the stars of the island as visitors will be able to interact with them at the end of the “cage tunnel”. You’ll be warned not to touch them because, as adorable as they are, they are very strong. As long as Divanee (fondly known as Mummy in these parts) is around, everything will be fine.

“They understand English, Bahasa (Malaysia) and Tamil,” reveals Mummy who has been taking care of the babies since they were about a year old.

“Sometimes after a scolding, they ignore me because they are angry but if I start to walk away, they call me back.”

Just like typical children, both are curious and active but Carlos seems to be the friendlier one. Paulina distances herself from visitors.

To help Carlos and Paulina adapt to life as orang utans, Mummy had to teach them how to climb trees when they first arrived.

“I took them to Pulau Pak Tuan nearby to climb trees. Since they didn’t know how to do it, I started to climb the trees so they could follow my example,” says the feisty lady.

Well, her efforts have borne visible fruit and to prove it, Paulina grabs hold of the wire mesh roof and swings toward the entrance, only to be caught by her legs and pulled down by Ann Vijayaletchumi, public relations officer of Ecopark and Orang Utan Island. Carlos observes the situation from between Mummy’s legs.

“They are just like any young children. They want my attention all the time and sometimes it’s hard to even find time to go to the toilet!” says Mummy as she sits down on a wooden bench with Carlos.

Ann carries Paulina to the bench as well. Paulina lies down nonchalantly while Carlos is tickled by Mummy. The baby bares its teeth in delight and squirms about, obviously the ticklish sort.

“It’s not an easy job caring for these two. I get bullied by them and at times they can get rough. I’ve been bitten by an orang utan before but I love animals and working with these two, so it’s OK,” says Mummy.

Introduction Of OrangUtan

2008-03-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The orangutans are two species of great apes known for their intelligence, long arms and reddish-brown hair. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, they are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, though fossils have been found in Java, Vietnam and China. Orangutans have the closest resemblance to human DNA, with 97% of their DNA matching that of humans.They are the only surviving species in the genus Pongo and the subfamily Ponginae (which also includes the extinct genera Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus). Their name derives from the Malay and Indonesian phrase orang hutan, meaning "person of the forest".

Etymology

The word orangutan (also written orang-utan, orang utan and orangutang) is derived from the Malay and Indonesian words orang meaning "person" and hutan meaning "forest", thus "person of the forest". Orang Hutan is the common term in these two national languages, although local peoples may also refer to them by local languages. Maias and mawas are also used in Malay, but it is unclear if those words refer only to orangutans, or to all apes in general.
The word was first attested in English in 1691 in the form orang-outang, and variants with -ng instead of -n as in the Malay original are found in many languages. This spelling (and pronunciation) has remained in use in English up to the present, but has come to be regarded as incorrect by some.

The name of the genus, Pongo, comes from a 16th century account by Andrew Battell, an English sailor held prisoner by the Portuguese in Angola, which describes two anthropoid "monsters" named Pongo and Engeco. It is now believed that he was describing gorillas, but in the late 18th century it was believed that all great apes were orangutans; hence Lacépède's use of Pongo for the genus.

Ecology and appearance

Orangutans are the most arboreal of the great apes, spending nearly all of their time in the trees. Every night they fashion nests, in which they sleep, from branches and foliage. They are more solitary than the other apes, with males and females generally coming together only to mate. Mothers stay with their babies until the offspring reach an age of six or seven years. There is significant sexual dimorphism between females and males: females can grow to around 4 ft 2 in or 127 centimetres and weigh around 100 lbs or 45 kg, while fully mature males can reach 5 ft 9 in or 175 centimetres in height and weigh over 260 lbs or 118 kg. Fully mature males can be distinguished by their prominent cheek flanges and longer hair.

Bimodal Male Development

Adult male orangutans exhibit two modes of physical development, flanged and unflanged. Flanged adult males have a variety of secondary sexual characteristics, including cheek pads (called "flanges"), throat pouch, and long fur, that are absent from both adult females and from unflanged males. Flanged males establish and protect territories that do not overlap with other flanged males' territories. Adult females, juveniles, and unflanged males do not have established territories. A flanged male's mating strategy involves establishing and protecting a territory, advertising his presence, and waiting for receptive females to find him. Unflanged males are also able to reproduce; their mating strategy involving finding females in estrus and forcing copulation. Males appear to remain in the unflanged state until they are able to establish and defend a territory, at which point they can make the transition from unflanged to flanged within a few months.The two reproductive strategies, referred to as "call-and-wait" for flanged male and "sneak-and-rape" for the unflanged male, were found to be approximately equally effective in one study group in Sumatra, though this observation did occur during a period of instability in flanged male rank and unflanged male mating success may be lower in Borneo.

Diet
Orangutans eat mostly fruit which makes up 60% of their diet. Fruits with sugary or fatty pulp are favored. The fruit of fig trees are also commonly eaten since it is easy to both harvest and digest. Other food items include: young leaves, shoots, seeds and bark. Insects and bird eggs are also included.

Orangutans are thought to be the sole fruit disperser for some plant species including the climber species Strychnos ignatii which contains the toxic alkaloid strychnine. It does not appear to have any effect on orangutans except for excessive saliva production.

Orang Utan - Wild Man of Borneo

2008-03-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

SWINGING ADVENTURES - Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary

Intro

The orangutans are two species of great apes known for their intelligence, long arms and reddish-brown hair. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, they are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

Their name derives from the Malay and Indonesian phrase orang hutan, meaning "person of the forest".Orang Utans have long fascinated mankind. Known scientificcally as Pongo Pygmaeus, they have been found to be 96.4% similar to our human genes.

Orangutans spending nearly all of their time in the trees. Every night they fashion nests, in which they sleep, from branches and foliage. They are more solitary than the other apes, with males and females generally coming together only to mate.

Females can grow to around 4 ft 2 in or 127 centimetres and weigh around 100 lbs or 45 kg, while fully mature males can reach 5 ft 9 in or 175 centimetres in height and weigh over 260 lbs or 118 kg. Fully mature males can be distinguished by their prominent cheek flanges and longer hair.

Endangered Species

The Bornean species of orangutans is highly endangered, and the Sumatran species is critically endangered,according to the IUCN Red List of mammals. The Borneo population is estimated at about 55,000 in the wild, while the Sumatran species is estimated at 7000 individuals.

Conservation Center

Indonesia

Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan
Kutai in East Kalimantan
Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan
Bukit Lawang in the Gunung Leuser National Park (on the border of Aceh) North Sumatra

Malaysia

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre in Sarawak
Matang Wildlife Centre also in Sarawak
Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary near Sandakan in Sabah.

Gentle and shy by nature, sightings of orang utan in the wild are rare. However, one place you are guaranteed of seeing them is at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center