Orangutan Stories: Mores & Marsha

When our team discover that a female orangutan in the wild is pregnant, there’s a certain energy that’s suddenly felt around camp. Every newborn is vital for the future of this critically endangered species so there’s excitement at the thought of another addition to the population, but also a sense of trepidation, hoping that the birth will go well.

Female orangutan Mores shelters from the rain

This is how our team at Camp Gemini felt back in 2019 when we learnt that reintroduced orangutan Mores was pregnant for the third time. Every time we would see her moving around in the trees within the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, we’d crane our necks to see if there was a little newborn hiding under her long orangey hair. It wasn’t until June that our team were finally rewarded. Emerging from the vegetation came Mores clutching her new tiny infant for the first time!

Mores shows off her newborn

Our monitoring team have to be particularly vigilant for the days following an orangutan birth. It’s the most vulnerable time for any animal in the wild, so to keep a close eye on mother and offspring without disrupting their first moments together is very important.

It was satisfying to see that Mores and her newborn were progressing nicely over the first few days. With her young by her side, she would travel gracefully through the trees and eat plenty of food to keep up their strength. After a while we were finally able to determine that the infant was female, and to follow her mother’s ‘M’ lineage, she was given the name Marsha.

Since then, our staff have enjoyed watching Marsha grow in size and personality in the forest. Witnessing the way her mother climbs, builds nests, and searches for food; the young orangutan is slowly being painted a picture of what an independent life in the rainforest looks like. She still has a few more years to go until she’ll be ready to go it alone, but thanks to her mother’s teachings, Marsha is starting to show the first signs of maturity.

Marsha is Mores’s third offspring, having previously given birth to Marcell and Martin in the wild. For Mores to have grown her family tree so well is truly a fantastic achievement, especially when we consider that she began her life in captivity before her release into the reserve in 2003. A testament to how successful reintroduction can be when orangutans have a safe forest to roam.

Mores and Marsha are thriving in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve

It’s fair to say that Mores has played her part for the future of these critically endangered great apes, unfortunately though, not all orangutans have the opportunity to do so in a habitat that is protected. Orphans taken into the illegal pet trade have an uncertain future, but at the Orangutan Foundation our staff can offer a route back to the wild through our soft-release programme. Please click below to find out how you can adopt an orangutan today and ensure orphans as young as Marsha also have the chance to be independent.