Author: Dr. Galdikas

Happy Birthday Thor!

Happy Birthday Thor! Today, October 15th, is Thor’s first birthday! Thor was born in Camp Leakey. The very first photographs we have of him and his fragile twin brother who died shortly after birth were taken in the trees near and on the ironwood causeway leading to Camp. Now that he is fully a year… Continue reading Happy Birthday Thor!

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Visit by Miss Indonesia 2008

Zivanna (Zizi) Letisha Siregar, Miss Indonesia 2008 (for the Miss Universe pageant), recently visited the Orangutan Foundation International’s Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine in Pasir Panjang as well as Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting National Park as part of a well-orchestrated trip to publicize the plight of wild orangutan populations and their habitat, tropical rain forest, in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

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Newborn Orangutan Taken from Mother by Another Female!

Orangutans continue to surprise us! At OFI’s Seruyan forest release site, after first-time mother “Dewi” gave birth to a tiny female infant, another young pregnant female named “Pinkie” took the infant, “Dalia”, from Dewi after Dalia had been squealing for almost half an hour. The camp assistants finally succeeded in calling Dr. Galdikas who arrived… Continue reading Newborn Orangutan Taken from Mother by Another Female!

OFI Guard Post Attacked

On November 19,2009 around one in the afternoon, a group of 63 Indonesian police officers with two dump trucks supported by Park rangers and Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) rangers moved into an illegal dry ground strip mining area inside the very northern edge of Tanjung Puting National Park and began arresting illegal miners and confiscating… Continue reading OFI Guard Post Attacked

Climate, Forest Ecology and Orangutans

Indonesia consists of approximately 17,000 islands, interspersed with warm seas, strung out along the equator between mainland Asia and Australia. Indonesia’s wet tropical climate is characterized by seasonal changes in rainfall rather than temperature. Warm waters, which make up more than 80% of Indonesia, are responsible for the almost constant temperatures on land. Seasonal variation in Indonesia’s

Preserving Peatland Rainforest Saves Orangutans… and the Global Climate

Most rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra, home to the orangutan, are distributed on peatlands which are typically low, swampy areas that are seasonally flooded. These rainforests are like no others in the world. Part of their uniqueness lies in their large capacity for storing carbon dioxide which is the primary greenhouse gas responsible for global… Continue reading Preserving Peatland Rainforest Saves Orangutans… and the Global Climate

OFI 2005: The Year in Review

2005 was one of the most difficult years in the history of Orangutan Foundation International. But we persevered and survived. Most important of all, we were successful in guarding the integrity of Tanjung Puting National Park which contains one of the most important and largest wild orangutan populations in the world as well as being… Continue reading OFI 2005: The Year in Review

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Rusti Stays in Hawaii: Sanctuary-like Facility to be built

Rusti, a 24-year-old cheekpadded male orangutan, owned by Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) and brought to the Honolulu Zoo some years ago for a temporary stay, will now stay in Hawaii permanently. Mayor Jeremy Harris and OFI President Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas signed an agreement between the City of Honolulu and OFI on February 13, 2004… Continue reading Rusti Stays in Hawaii: Sanctuary-like Facility to be built

OFI begins work on USAID Conservation Grant

Developing a park co-management team OFI, in conjunction with World Education, began work on its second USAID grant in October 2003. One of OFI and World Education’s goals is to further develop an effective co-management team for Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP). One primary aim of the co-management team is to expand the size of… Continue reading OFI begins work on USAID Conservation Grant

Orangutan Populations may become extinct in the wild within the next twenty years

Orangutans may become extinct in the wild within the next ten years – a frightening fact. I spent most of the summer in Indonesia and the situation there remains very critical. I want to keep you up to date on our struggle to keep orangutans and their forests in Indonesia from being completely destroyed.

There is good news and bad news to the story.

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1687 [post_author] => 10282 [post_date] => 2003-11-21 21:58:17 [post_date_gmt] => 2003-11-22 04:58:17 [post_content] => Dear Orangutan Foundation International Members and Friends, Orangutan populations may become extinct in the wild within the next twenty years - a frightening fact. I spent most of the summer in Indonesia and the situation there remains very critical. I want to keep you up to date on our struggle to keep orangutans and their forests in Indonesia from being completely destroyed. There is good news and bad news to the story. And the good news is very good news! We threw all our resources at the problem of illegal logging and poaching in Lamandau Nature Reserve and in Tanjung Puting National Park this year. Sparing no effort as an organization, we hired more field assistants to patrol the northern part of the Park. As a result, dozens of illegal gold miners, wild-rubber tappers, and even farmers were discovered and evicted from the previously lawless area bordered by the left fork of the Sekonyer River. Our new twice-weekly exhaustive patrols are protecting the forest there. When we heard that local poachers were still, in the dead of night, poaching for dragonfish and turtles in the Park, and shooting the highly endangered and endemic proboscis monkeys for turtle bait, we hired a second boat and additional local assistants to physically block the right hand fork of the Sekonyer River mouth and provide nightly patrols. The fishing and poaching stopped immediately. Then, on August 25th, we learned that twenty illegal garu loggers from another region of Borneo had invaded the northern reaches of the Park. Garu is a fragrant wood created within one species of tree when its timber is attacked by a certain type of fungus. High-quality garu sells for $500 US (yes, five hundred dollars per pound!) right on the spot. It is sold to buyers in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. This makes garu loggers especially dangerous. Because garu is so valuable, loggers literally tear apart all garu trees,  from the roots to the twigs, from tiny pole trees to large trees. Garu loggers have devastated forests all over Borneo. Our Camp Leakey study area was one of the last remaining forests in Borneo never to have been ravaged by garu loggers. Our assistants confronted the 20 garu loggers who fled on foot five miles north. I immediately reported the garu loggers to the local police chief and on August 27th, I led a group of 25 local assistants and 10 heavily armed police officers, five from the elite mobile brigade, into the forest to track the loggers. Our forest-savvy Dayak assistants located the loggers’ camp deep in the forest and the police arrested 10 loggers (the other 10 fled) and took them to jail on August 30th. As I write this letter two and a half months later, the 10 garu loggers are still in jail - something unprecedented in the annals of the Park and forest protection in the region. The police chief told the prosecutors that he did not want to disappoint us. Even more good news comes from Lamandau Nature Reserve where we are closing in on our goal of releasing 31 orangutans back into the wild this year. Over 20 ex-captive orangutans have already been released at the reserve and we were able, with the help of community patrols, Forestry and local police, to stop the logging along one river in the Reserve. You should have seen the look of wonder on the faces of these orangutans when they returned to the great forest for all time! But these successes came at a high cost. That’s the bad news. So far it has cost OFI fifty thousand dollars to implement the nightly patrols, to hire additional guard boats, and to fund the additional community, local police, and Forestry police in the forests we protect. Right now we have funds for only one month’s work in Borneo. We are facing a most difficult time. Time is running out. Recent surveys in Borneo and Sumatra suggest that orangutan populations are in rapid decline. But so far we have been able to save Tanjung Puting National Park so it is home to the largest population of wild orangutans left on this planet. Your gift has never been more needed and means more to the orangutans, wildlife, and forests of Borneo than you’ll ever know. I would not be making this plea if it were not so urgently needed. We cannot abandon the orangutans and wildlife of Borneo when they need us the most. Thank you very much for your support both in the past and in the future. And my warmest wishes go out to you this holiday season. Without you, the orangutans would have no future at all. Sincerely yours, Biruté Mary Galdikas P.S. Your generosity will help save pristine habitat for the 6,000 orangutans that live in Tanjung Puting National Park. [post_title] => Orangutan Populations may become extinct in the wild within the next twenty years [post_excerpt] => Orangutans may become extinct in the wild within the next ten years - a frightening fact. I spent most of the summer in Indonesia and the situation there remains very critical. I want to keep you up to date on our struggle to keep orangutans and their forests in Indonesia from being completely destroyed. There is good news and bad news to the story. 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