Author: Tess

Dayak Kitchen: Fruit, Guarding Durian Trees, and Interesting Recipes

The durian is a popular tree in Pasir Panjang , Central Kalimantan (Central Indonesian Borneo). The local people all seem to love its fruit. Throughout the durian fruiting season, the owner of a durian tree will sit and wait, all day and night, for his/her ripe fruits to drop. If the tree is not guarded,… Continue reading Dayak Kitchen: Fruit, Guarding Durian Trees, and Interesting Recipes

A Dayak Kitchen: Local Farming, Chickens, Pineapples, and Corn

The Dayak village of Pasir Panjang in Central Borneo is a hubbub of activity. If villagers aren’t working formal jobs, they will often be tending to chickens, growing vegetables in their back garden, or looking for wild fruits in the surrounding forest. Mr Henson, who works at the OFI Care Center and Quarantine in Pasir… Continue reading A Dayak Kitchen: Local Farming, Chickens, Pineapples, and Corn

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Employee of the Month: Pak Ateng, a skilled Caregiver at the OFI Care Center

As a caregiver, Pak Ateng is part of a team  responsible for rehabilitating the orphaned orangutans at OFI’s Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine. Pak Ateng encourages the orangutans to develop important forest skills such as foraging, nest building, and climbing.  The orangutans seem to respect his gentle nature and expansive knowledge of the forest.  Yet… Continue reading Employee of the Month: Pak Ateng, a skilled Caregiver at the OFI Care Center

Releasing Orangutans back to the Wild: a Complex Procedure

Not every orangutan release goes as planned. In April 2010 Congo, an eleven year old male, was released at a forest camp located in a secure patch of forest stewarded by OFI and used as a release site for rehabilitated orangutans. Unfortunately, in August he had to return to the Care Center in the village… Continue reading Releasing Orangutans back to the Wild: a Complex Procedure

Meet Siswi: IMAX star and long-time sweetheart of Camp Leakey visitors

In the new IMAX movie, Born to be Wild, Siswi is filmed sharing noodles with Dr Biruté Mary Galdikas as they sit together outside Galdikas’ house in Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Borneo. Siswi is also captured walking on the causeway from the river, and wrestling playfully with Dr Galdikas. Camp Leakey… Continue reading Meet Siswi: IMAX star and long-time sweetheart of Camp Leakey visitors

IMAX’s ‘Born to be wild’ star of the month: Douglas Soledo

Douglas Soledo has a story quite unlike the tales of other orangutan orphans. Featured in the new IMAX movie, BORN TO BE WILD, opening this April, Douglas Soledo is about to become an international movie star! His arrival at OFI’s Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) in 2010 coincided with the beginning of the film… Continue reading IMAX’s ‘Born to be wild’ star of the month: Douglas Soledo

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The young male Agile Gibbon who we have been calling Gibbs has left his much larger orangutan cousins at the OFI Care Center this week. This small, arboreal ape is moving to a new home, the Kalaweit Center in nearby Palangka Raya. This is a special facility for gibbons where he will be able to socialize with apes of his own species, and receive the complex care needed to return gibbons to the wild. These elusive and musical apes who form life-long pairs, which they re-affirm every morning with vocal duets, are particularly challenging to return back to the wild. Their immune systems are evolutionarily adapted to arboreal (tree-dwelling) diseases, since they almost never come down to the ground which makes them very susceptible to human pathogens. Also, their strict social system is not welcoming to lone strangers; gibbons need to be released as family groups.

Nearly on his way with current enrichment officer, Judith Roycroft
Nearly on his way with current enrichment officer, Judith Roycroft

Gibbs has been a resident of the Care Center for three months (read his arrival story here) and has given the staff and volunteers a rare glimpse into the life and behavior of these small apes. Although gibbon song is the defining morning sound of many Asian forests, actually approaching and observing these animals in the wild is a feat not even the most dedicated primatologists always accomplish.

On the day of the transfer from the Care Center, although surrounded by larger, playful orangutans, the juvenile gibbon seemed very relaxed in his enclosure which the previous enrichment officer (Ms. Kylise) had specially designed. The gibbon rested with his arm loosely dangling over his knee; this pose resembled that of the easy-going men in the local village who often chill on their porches. Gibbs is a friendly character and often enjoyed simply sitting holding hands with his care-givers. He bonded particularly well with Pak Polis who helped move him into his transit pen for the trip to the new center.

Mr Hakim (left) Mr Kautsar (center) who are both from the Kalaweit Care Center and Dr Prima (right) who works at the OFI Care Center
Mr Hakim (left) Mr Kautsar (center) who are both from the Kalaweit Care Center and Dr Prima (right) who works at the OFI Care Center

Gibbs knew his place on the social hierarchy. If he felt intimidated by someone he would quickly spin around, showing them his bottom, and then peer around to find out if they were looking! This is a classic submission signal among many primates. Gibbs had also learned effective ways to communicate his desires with the caregivers since he would often reach out his hand to passerbys, then guide their hands to his food basket where bananas were frequently placed, as if he was trying to explain precisely what he wanted to eat!

His soft oua oua sounds will be sorely missed in the Care Center. These haunting calls give all gibbon species the local Indonesian name ‘uwa-uwa’. We are reassured knowing that Gibbs will be carefully attended by the experienced experts at the Kalaweit center, and one day he will make his long-awaited journey back to the rainforest.

We take one last look at him as he is safely enclosed in the transit vehicle and Judith holds his hand for the last time.
We take one last look at him as he is safely enclosed in the transit vehicle and Judith holds his hand for the last time.
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