Right after getting back to Indonesia from our five days in Penang, our boss emailed to say that we had one extra day off so we could take a long weekend. It was awesome- we rented a car with three of our friends from Aceh and went to Bukit Lawang where the Bohorok Orangutan Rehabilitation center is. Since the 70's they have released 200 previously captive orangutans into the jungle there and it is amazing to see them swinging through the trees and having little babies and being beautiful. The first day we got there and walked along the river and spotted one in the trees across the way- I was mesmorized. The second day we went to the feeding platform where the orangutans can count on a regular, if bland, diet of bananas and milk. About 8 showed up there and it was fascinating to see them interact and swing through the trees. They are fast! Then we walked back through the jungle and saw four moms with babies (who stay with their mothers until they are 4 or 5, but we saw some that were just a month or two old). John and I climbed some of the vines and I will definitely be replacing these photos off the internet with our personal photos when he gets back with our camera and computer :-) It was an amazing and unforgettable experience.
5 comments:
They are so beautiful. Just wondering, what kind of milk are they given? How are they prepared for release into the wild? Do they rely solely on food from the feeding platform or do they forage a bit themselves, too?
I'm a little confused. Did you already have the baby? I've never thought that all babies are beautiful, just asking.
There is such a resemblance to your family photo.
So actually, liz, the full story is that they haven't actually released any orangutans there since the mid-late 1990's because,as far as I could learn, there isn't enough room in the area they were releasing them. Too much interesting information for me to summarize about how they were released so go here to read more http://www.orangutans-sos.org/bohorok/bohorokrehab.php
I believe the milk is cow's milk because it is never specified elsewhere, but you can read about that on the same link I put above. The diet is purposely monotonous to encourage them to forage on their own, so they just have it as a security blanket, really. The website above has tons of other interesting information I recommend reading it, like that newborn orangutans are about half the size of human newborns :-)
I know I am a little bit late for a comment...but I though we told John to stop playing in the trees. We all know he isnt the most "coordinated" knife in the drawer. Sweet guys. And I'll take a glass of orangutan milk please.
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