Friday, February 24, 2006
"Real" Orangutan Work Begins
All systems go at last!
What i call "proper" orangutan work began today. We went down to the Indoor Nursery and Quarantine area with Caroline and Ruth so they could start the handover of those duties to Group 1. Officially we start there tomorrow but this way we can hit the ground running. Also it was a sunny day so a great chance for us to get a good number of the Orangutans outside for some exercise and play which has been severely limited lately because of the rains, which have conveniently stopped since we returned from KK. Maybe this is the end of the rainy season at last??!!
Duties started with a bit of cage cleaning and then some milk preparation and bottle feeding. A couple of the youngsters needed bathing too.
All in all i'd say we have about 20 orangutans to look after in these two areas. The majority of them are between 6 months and 7 years old, the one BIG exception is Bidai, a large adult male over 20 years old with big cheek pads and a gruff roar, who is currently in quarantine but (thankfully) we heard today had just been accepted to transfer to the new KK zoo any day now. Bidai is a very sad case. He can never be rehabilitated because is partially paralysed on the right side of his body after being crushed by a tree that was being felled. At least at KK zoo he will have a much bigger enclosure than can be offered here and should live out the rest of his days in some degree of relative comfort.
Mid-morning to lunchtime is the time to take out some of the younger OUs for exercise and climbing. Today there were 5 of us so we took one each. One of the 5 was Sogo Sogo, my adopted little girl. She is very cute, with very long hair including a huge shock of it on her head. A bit like Mowgli at Rasa Ria would have looked before his head was shaved!
She is incredibly nervous with Nick and I, pretty much refusing any contact with us and sticking with the girls. Her nerves will probably ease over the next 9 days as she begins to associate us with food and fun! Sogo and a young male called Eniro are both excellent climbers. I can already see that these sessions are going to be a real chance for us to improve their lives and promote some of the skills they will need if they are to be released into the wild several years down the line.
After lunch it was more cleaning and feeding and giving out electrolites to drink, then we were able to take out 6 of the older OUs for their exercise.
The biggest of them was Kimbal, who i think is about 6 years old and a bit of a bully to the others and to us. Had my first bite of the day from him too. Nothing major, he didn't draw blood!
Walking back together we reflected on the day and still had a real buzz - this is what we came here for!!!
What i call "proper" orangutan work began today. We went down to the Indoor Nursery and Quarantine area with Caroline and Ruth so they could start the handover of those duties to Group 1. Officially we start there tomorrow but this way we can hit the ground running. Also it was a sunny day so a great chance for us to get a good number of the Orangutans outside for some exercise and play which has been severely limited lately because of the rains, which have conveniently stopped since we returned from KK. Maybe this is the end of the rainy season at last??!!
Duties started with a bit of cage cleaning and then some milk preparation and bottle feeding. A couple of the youngsters needed bathing too.
All in all i'd say we have about 20 orangutans to look after in these two areas. The majority of them are between 6 months and 7 years old, the one BIG exception is Bidai, a large adult male over 20 years old with big cheek pads and a gruff roar, who is currently in quarantine but (thankfully) we heard today had just been accepted to transfer to the new KK zoo any day now. Bidai is a very sad case. He can never be rehabilitated because is partially paralysed on the right side of his body after being crushed by a tree that was being felled. At least at KK zoo he will have a much bigger enclosure than can be offered here and should live out the rest of his days in some degree of relative comfort.
Mid-morning to lunchtime is the time to take out some of the younger OUs for exercise and climbing. Today there were 5 of us so we took one each. One of the 5 was Sogo Sogo, my adopted little girl. She is very cute, with very long hair including a huge shock of it on her head. A bit like Mowgli at Rasa Ria would have looked before his head was shaved!
She is incredibly nervous with Nick and I, pretty much refusing any contact with us and sticking with the girls. Her nerves will probably ease over the next 9 days as she begins to associate us with food and fun! Sogo and a young male called Eniro are both excellent climbers. I can already see that these sessions are going to be a real chance for us to improve their lives and promote some of the skills they will need if they are to be released into the wild several years down the line.
After lunch it was more cleaning and feeding and giving out electrolites to drink, then we were able to take out 6 of the older OUs for their exercise.
The biggest of them was Kimbal, who i think is about 6 years old and a bit of a bully to the others and to us. Had my first bite of the day from him too. Nothing major, he didn't draw blood!
Walking back together we reflected on the day and still had a real buzz - this is what we came here for!!!
// posted by storri @ 11:02 pm 
