Orangutan Foundation

At the beginning of the 1990’s the Tripa Swamp Forests, on the west coat of Aceh (island of Sumatra) had approximately 1,500 Sumatran orangutans. Sumatran orangutans are listed as critically endangered. Today, the remaining Tripa Swamps that are being converted to oil palm plantations contain only an estimated 250 orangutans. It is crucial for [...]

Part of the Orangutan Foundation’s Education Programme in the UK involves us giving regular talks to schools, universities and social groups. As we are a small but very busy team it was decided to set up a network of local “ambassadors” who would be willing to speak about orangutans and our work on our behalf.
Well, [...]

Stephen and June left for Lamandau Wildlife Reserve yesterday morning and will be in the field until early next week.
Kees and Rachel thank you very much for your offer to bring out two digital cameras in May. We would be extremely grateful for these and all the other bits (wires, cables etc..) you mentioned as [...]

About a year ago, almost seven hectares of forest behind the Pondok Ambung Research Station was burnt to the ground (see post Fires in Tanjung Puting National Park). This was attributed to human carelessness (not the Pondok Ambung staff, we should note!), and favourable dry conditions. A burnt forest patch however, when left alone, regenerates [...]

Thank you for all your recent comments on this blog.
Super, thank you Brigitta for translating the Rainforest Education Pack and Teacher’s Notes. If you don’t mind sending us a copy of the CD that would be great. Please can you send it to: Orangutan Foundation, 7 Kent Terrace, London, NW1 4RP, UK. As always Brigitta, [...]

This post has two parts, a fun story and a sad one. I’ll start with the fun one first.
Last Sunday’s day out, when I caught up with orangutan Zidane at Camp Buluh, wasn’t all plain sailing. As we headed up to Camp Buluh our speedboat hit a submerged log. This happens fairly often and [...]

On Sunday we were back at Camp Buluh, one of our orangutan release camps in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, where we caught up with the orangutan Zidane. He is still very thin but his hair is coming back and, most importantly, he was bright-eyed and very active.

Zidane – a healthier looking orangutan.
He watched [...]

Linda you recently asked about activities to educate zoo visitors about orangutans. I would like to recommend the Orangutan Foundation’s Rainforest Education Pack which focuses on orangutans. Although it is aimed at primary school level it has many activities (e.g. nest building, masks, quiz) which could be used or adapted for use in zoos.
Matthew [...]

Recently we’ve received a few comments enquiring about volunteer work with orangutans or other great apes. The Orangutan Foundation’s Volunteer Programme offers individuals the chance to become involved in conservation fieldwork and see ex-captive and, hopefully, wild orangutans. The work is of manual construction/ labouring nature but it is vital to our conservation work [...]

Please meet Dr. Fikri, our new vet, for the orangutans in Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.

Mr Tigor our Orangutan Reintroduction Programme Manager, is on the left (reluctant to stand still and smile!) and Dr Fikri is on the right.
Dr Fikri is a graduate from the prestigious Bogor Agricultural Institute, Indonesia and, as part of his work experience, [...]