Brian (adopted infant orangutan) and Rosa (the surrogate orangutan mother) are living in the forest surrounding Camp Gemini, in the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve. They are still being followed and monitored by two Camp staff (Utang and Winto). We met with them on Sunday not too far from the Camp, Rosa and Brian looked very happy. Brian was moving and swinging very friskily, up and down and he sometimes moved to other trees and then back again to Rosa. The whole time Rosa keeping an eye on everything Brian did, if Brian had a problem Rosa went to help him. All Orangutan Foundation staff are very happy with Brian's progress, he is very quick to adapt to the forest.
Rosa is teaching Brian how to forage, she eats a few types of leaf and Brian is very clever to follow what Rosa does. He tries to reach the leaves by himself and eat them. Meanwhile, Camelia (another young orangutan) watching Rosa and Brian, slowly moves closer to them. Brian gives a good response.
They play together and Brian follows Camelia, climbing to the top of the tree. In that moment there was a fantastic phenomenon shown by Camelia. She gave a lead to make a nest, Camelia broke the branch and made a nest for Brian. Rosa helped them to make the nest too. Slowly Brian reached for a small branch and broke it. Brian is very quick to learn and imitate everything he sees!
Many thanks to:
· BKSDA Kalimantan Tengah (the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan)
· Mr. Eko Novi Setiawan the head of section II of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan (Kepala BKSDA SKW II Kalimantan Tengah),
· Ibu Ashley Leiman OBE the Director of Orangutan Foundation UK,
· Brian W. Matthews the Wildlife Photographer
· Tigor Nainggolan the Lamandau orangutan Reintroduction Manager of Orangutan Foundation UK
· Fiqri the Lamandau orangutan reintroduction Vet of Orangutan Foundation-UK
· Uduk the Lamandau orangutan reintroduction Camp Coordinator of Orangutan Foundation-UK
· Yatno for the Kijang pickup
· All of Camp Siswoyo and Gemini Staff for the extraordinary jobs
Thank you to all our supporters who have given so generously to our 'Protect Me and My Tree Appeal' - your support is crucial in helping us to provide a safe and secure habitat for these orangutans.
Regards,
Hudi WD (Orangutan Foundation Programme Coordinator)
