Orangutan Stories: Queen

In January of this year, our vets were called to Camp Buluh in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve to treat Queen after she had suffered a crocodile attack. She and her son Quentin were noticeably missing around camp after the new year but were eventually sighted and the team discovered that Queen had a large wound on her lower back.

Queen was often seen wading along the edge of Buluh River. It’s likely that the attack happened there.

To inspect the wound more closely, Queen was sedated and during the examination, four holes were found which resembled the bite of a crocodile. They were stitched up and Queen was moved to a holding cage at Camp Buluh to allow the team to monitor her recovery.

She wasn’t the easiest patient to look after. Too much curiosity and movement meant that she opened her stitches a few times, requiring repeat visits from our vets to clean and patch them up again. Over time it became clear that one of the holes was not healing as fast as the others, however, Queen’s appetite and behaviour remained active and as you would expect from a healthy orangutan which was a promising sign.

Eventually the decision was made to do surgery on her and attempt to stitch the hole up closer to the colon. With Dimas and Wawan working in parallel and aided by two camp staff, Queen was in and out of surgery quickly. Unfortunately, they couldn’t complete the operation as hoped and decided to keep Queen at camp for longer to see if the wound would heal by itself.

Queen’s son Quentin remained by her side throughout her recovery. It was a tough experience for the young orangutan who, as a wild born orangutan, is not used to being confined to a small enclosure or having so many people around. Anytime he and Queen had to be separated both mother and son became distressed and so the team tried to avoid that as much as possible.

Finally in June, Queen was given the all clear to return to the wild. She and Quentin were released near Camp Buluh and we are pleased that they have remained close since, allowing camp staff to continue monitoring her.

Despite what was likely a traumatic attack, and a long recovery, Queen and Quentin are thriving once more in the protected Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. It’s thanks to your support that we are able to respond in emergency situations like these and provide the dedicated care that orangutans need. Every orangutan life is precious, and we are grateful that we could protect Queen’s.

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A monthly donation of £50 a month can cover both our vet’s salaries for an entire month, please consider supporting their vital work!

Orangutan Stories: Labetty & Leon

Orangutans have been recorded eating over 400 different types of food, which means for mothers, the job of introducing their offspring to all the different food groups is a rather large task. Until they start to forage entirely for themselves, infant orangutans depend on their mother’s milk to sustain them. As they grow older their mother will have them try the fruits and leaves that she browses on, showing them what is good to eat and where to find it. Then at the ages of around 3 and 4, the young orangutans will start to try foraging under the watchful eye of their mother.

In Camp Rasak in the Lamdandau Wildlife Reserve mother and son, Labetty and Leon, are beginning the next step in Leon’s development with independent foraging. Labetty was born in the wild to Lady Di, an orangutan who was released in the Reserve back in February 2006. Now aged 13, Labetty is mother to Leon, who will be turning 3 years old in July this year.

Labetty and Leon snacking on some papaya.

Labetty has been active in showing her son how to forage in the forest. She slowly browses the branches around her for leaves while Leon watches closely, usually in a piggyback position with his arms around his mother’s neck. Our camp staff have observed him starting to imitate his mother’s foraging behaviours. While still clinging to his mother with one hand, the young ape stretches his free arm out to pull leaves off branches, just like his mother.

The pair are frequent visitors to Camp Rasak, which is one of our soft-release camps in the reserve and the release site of Labetty’s mother, Lady Di. They are often seen by camp staff moving to and from camp and the feeding platform in the forest, travelling along the boardwalk between the two sites.

At the feeding site, where we are able to closely observe visiting orangutans’ behaviour and development, our staff have even seen Leon snatching Labetty’s food out of her hands and tasting it himself. It’s hard to keep anything for yourself when you have another pair of eyes watching everything you do!

Labetty has been an example mother to her first-born son. She has shown patience as a teacher in the ways of the rainforest and strength as a protector for her infant. Leon is in good hands, and we can’t wait to see how he continues to progress.