Category: Stories

Conservation on the ground

At nineteen years old, young Sia defied his father’s wishes and began a job which he had wanted since elementary school.
When Sia was 10 years old, Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas was already hiring Dayaks (natives of Borneo) for her Orangutan Research and Conservation Project in his home village of Pasir Panjang. Dr. Galdikas was Louis Leakey’s third primatologist protégée, following the footsteps of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey in studying wild great apes.

Macaque Monkey Release

Central Kalimantan, Indonesia – For a place called the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCC&Q), there is a surprising number of animals around that are neither orange, long-haired, nor gentle. Apart from animals rescued from a zoo OFI bought and closed down, we regularly accept confiscated, surrendered, and injured animals from local people and government.… Continue reading Macaque Monkey Release

Orangutans Return to the Wild: Release at Lamandau Nature Reserve

Arriving at the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) facility one morning from Pangkalan Bun by the customary Indonesian transport of an ojek or hired motor scooter, I was surprised to find the clinic very quiet. As I ventured around the building I discovered the veterinarians and assistants all busy on the back lawn with… Continue reading Orangutans Return to the Wild: Release at Lamandau Nature Reserve

Lamandau Nature Reserve: An Orangutan Release Site

Lamandau Nature Reserve, an expired logging concession comprised mainly of peat swamp forest, is prime orangutan habitat in Borneo. It was designated as an official orangutan release site in 1997. The Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) has two camps located in the reserve, Camp Siswoyo and Camp JL., both on its eastern edge close to Pangkalan… Continue reading Lamandau Nature Reserve: An Orangutan Release Site

Orangutan of the Month: “Pola”

Pola came to Camp Leakey in the mid-1970s as a young juvenile orphan along with other notables like Princess, Unyuk and Tutut. During that time, Pola joined one of the original sign learning projects I was conducting as a graduate student working with Dr. Galdikas. Like Princess, Pola was given a home-reared environment within which… Continue reading Orangutan of the Month: “Pola”

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 26902 [post_author] => 10296 [post_date] => 2000-04-01 13:19:52 [post_date_gmt] => 2000-04-01 20:19:52 [post_content] => Pola came to Camp Leakey in the mid-1970s as a young juvenile orphan along with other notables like Princess, Unyuk and Tutut. During that time, Pola joined one of the original sign learning projects I was conducting as a graduate student working with Dr. Galdikas. Like Princess, Pola was given a home-reared environment within which to learn his signs. Pola's teachers were mainly Indonesian graduate students serving as my counterparts while in Indonesia. As a sign learning student, Pola was not as accomplished as Princess nor as as motivated as the other orangutan students. Pola used to whimper when he was taken to his classroom for the (probably) monotonous training sessions that occurred twice a day. Following his lessons, Pola would storm out of the classroom like a mini-bulldozer, pounding his fists into the ground as he made his way into the forest for a brief recess. Students and staff would frequently have to climb the trees to convince Pola to return to their care Pola continued his rehabilitation to life in the forest following the end of my signing studies in 1980. By the mid- 1990s, Pola had become an impressive adult male who was a regular visitor to Camp Leakey. When I came to visit Camp Leakey one year, I came across Pola resting along one of the trails around Camp Leakey. What could I do to see if Pola remembered me? I picked up a leaf, held it in front of Pola and asked him in Indonesian and sign language, "What's this?".; Imagine my surprise when Pola, in classic form, whimpered like a juvenile then stormed away to the forest! Pola has been absent from Camp Leakey for several years now. We think he was out competed by Kusasi as the resident, dominant male and is somewhere in Tanjung Puting - probably glad he doesn't have to endure any more signing lessons! [post_title] => Orangutan of the Month: "Pola" [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => orangutan-of-the-month-pola [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-01-31 00:18:38 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-01-31 08:18:38 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://orangutan.org/?p=26902 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )