Archive for the ‘Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP)’ Category
Last week Brigitta asked me to give her regards to Siswi. Unfortunately, I have not managed to get out of the office (hence this week’s blog, which has been more about individual orangutan histories than actual news from the field!). However, I thought I would tell all of you about her because, like Kusasi, she is one of Camp Leakey’s characters. Most visitors to Camp meet her and she’s pretty noticeable.
Siswi has a distinctive gait, a unique habit of lying on her back holding her feet and, if there is a male around, she’s almost guaranteed to put in a show. People may consider her “rotund” but that does not appear to diminish her sex-appeal; she frequently consorts (the name given to the temporary male – female pairings, when a female is in season) with Tom, whereas a few year’s ago, she was definitely Kusasi’s girl. Indeed, without trying to keep going on about the film “Kusasi: From Orphan to King” there is a delightful scene where Siswi is rolling along in front of Kusasi as he walks through the forest.
What made Siswi famous from the outset was that she was the first ever offspring of a rehabilitated orangutan at Camp Leakey. Siswoyo was released by Biruté Galdikas in 1975. On the 9th of September 1978 she gave birth to Siswi, evidence that once-captive orangutans can return to the wild. Because of this, the first release camp in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve is called Camp Siswoyo. Attached is Siswoyo’s family tree. My apologies that the text appears to have jumped inside the boxes; I am no-one’s idea of a graphic designer! You may need to click on the family tree to read it.
I see a number of people have asked how we monitor the orangutans once they have been released into Lamandau. There is nothing technical involved: our field assistants follow the orangutans from sunrise to sunset (or as we say, “nest to nest”) everyday for a week. If after that time it is clear the orangutan has adapted to life in the forest, they will then be followed occasionally like the other previously released orangutans. If after the first week, the assistants are concerned that the orangutan may not be adapting they will continue to follow he or she for a month. Common causes of concern are the orangutans not making their own nests but choosing to sleep on the feeding platform or making a bee-line for Camp and not exploring their new surroundings. Within the first week, we expect to see the orangutans making their own nest, trying wild food and travelling. Nearly all achieve this.
Most newly-released orangutans tend not to go too far in the first couple of days but then they start to travel further and further. Last December I told you about the release of Sawit and her adopted son Andi. They took off within their first week, probably because Sawit was being hassled by a sub-adult male. The Assistants could not follow her through the swamps to the west of Camp Rasak. However, on 22 April, back they came, still together. Which brings me onto the last element of the post-release monitoring; the daily supplemental feedings. In Tanjung Puting, where orangutans were released from the early 1970s to the mid-90s, the rehabilitants are offered food once a day. In Lamandau food is provided twice a day. This serves three purposes: it keeps up the nutrition levels of the released orangutans; it decreases competition for scare food resources with wild orangutans, gibbons, hornbills, and other wildlife and finally it enables us to monitor the orangutans’ development. All individuals coming to the feeding stations are recorded; over the course of a year, at least half of all released orangutans are seen. The Assistants also note whether they are consorting with the opposite sex, pregnant or with an infant and their general health. For example, Boni who was released at the same time as Sawit and Andi came into feeding 26 times during April, and then every day in May and June. Lady Di, whose picture I showed you in April, was around for 28 days in April, May and June but Hongky was there for just 9 days in April, 14 days in May and 25 days in June. In answer to “Rick, El Paso, TEXAS” question about the availability of this data, I am afraid to say it is not available online. We produce quarterly reports, in Indonesian, covering this information but the reports are for the Forestry Department and our own internal use. However, Tigor who manages the Lamandau Camps is providing information about our release program to an Indonesian PhD student at Cambridge University in the UK. So hopefully it will be peer-reviewed and published.
Please keep asking questions and I’ll try to keep answering them! Many thanks.
July has been a busy month, hence my lack of posts (apologies) and it looks set to continue into August. This has definitely been Pondok Ambung’s month. Pondok Ambung is the Tropical Forest Research Station we operate inside Tanjung Puting National Park.
Pondok Ambung is set in a beautiful location on the Sekonyer River, TPNP. I have already told you of Rene’s study on crocodiles but I think it completely slipped by to tell you that the University of Reading’s ‘Summer School’ were here earlier this month. This is the second year, Reading University have run a ten-day field course at Pondok Ambung. It is always great to see students getting out of the classroom and into the forest. I hope it inspires them. They were certainly captivated by the orangutans and gibbons.
Pondok Ambung visitors; orangutans, gibbons, and humans -whose watching who? And just to prove there are always new experiences to be had, the day Brigitta (who contacted us through Wildlife Direct) was with us at Pondok Ambung, we found a tree that had been absolutely torn apart. You will have seen photos of the damage sun bears can do to trees in one of my earlier posts. Orangutans will also tear off bark to either get at sap or insects. But, on this tree, half the bark had been shorn off and huge chunks of heartwood pulled out. If it was an orangutan or a bear, I would not want to meet them! It was Rene who gave us the answer: the tree had been struck by lightening (he said there had been an almighty thunder clap and lightening flash the day before). That was why the wood appeared to have exploded outwards. Still it was incredible there was no sign of burning. Despite the downpour, I would have thought a million plus volts would have at least singed the leaves…
During last week, when I was in Tanjung Puting National Park, I had a close encounter that reminded me just how impressive these great apes are. Walking down the jetty from Camp Leakey we found our way blocked by Kusasi, who, I can assure you, is quite some bloke!
Kusasi and Tut blocking the way. Kusasi was the dominant male of Camp Leakey for many years. Tut, a female, sat patiently in front of him; if he was not going to shift neither was she. So we called Abdi who is magical with the orangutans. Abdi simply walked up to Kusasi and shooed him away, much as you or I would a kitten. Humbled, we thanked Abdi and walked on, only to find Uranus, another cheek-padded male, at the far end of the jetty. The rule with all orangutans is “never within arm’s reach” which means there was no walking past Uranus who has a 2m/7’ arm-span.
Tom, another cheek-padded male - thank goodness he wasn’t on the jetty! Kusasi had by this time returned to the jetty, which meant we could not walk on or go back. I tried my Abdi impersonation but failed dismally. With Uranus, we had to wait him out. It was almost sunset before he sauntered off to make his nest….
Hello again, sorry for the silence but I have just had another fantastic week in Tanjung Puting National Park. Actually, on Monday I was in Lamandau, on a peat-lands survey, but I was still out of the office and in the forest, which made for a good day!
In case you’re wondering where these places I keep mentioning are, here’s a map (Pangkalanbun is where our office is). At Pondok Ambung I caught up with René, the German crocodile researcher, and then spent a wonderful couple of days at Camp Leakey. There were orangutans everywhere! What was great was seeing some unusual things. Foremost on that list was food sharing between two adult females.
Above and below, Rani and Riga - sharing food
Young orangutans will often sample what their mothers are eating. This is part of the learning process; finding out what is good to eat. However, on Wednesday, I watched two adult orangutans Rani and her daughter Riga sharing food. What made this doubly interesting is that it was Riga who was giving food to her mother. There may be some biological reason for this – Rani’s three year old son is obviously Riga’s half-brother but that seems a stretch. Normally, the genetic drivers of caring-behaviour are down the generations, not up them. This could have been a case of dominance; the older female forcing the younger one to submit. However, it is also quite likely that it was a simple act of altruism: Riga had enough to eat so was happy to share with her mother. The final excitement of the week was finding a dead and half-eaten crocodile. We reported this to René who examined the carcass. He estimated it to have been around three metres in length and was killed in a fight with another crocodile. Almost certainly the other crocodile was bigger.
Sekonyer River, TPNP Having just bathed in that river it was kind of sobering to know there was a bigger crocodile out there….. As always thanks for your comments, questions and support of our work. Maciej G, thank you very much for your $50 donation at the end of June. Will try and post again soon - the daily powercuts aren’t making it easy!
Where did last week go? I spent most of it in Tanjung Puting National Park, having lots of fun and adventures, and only got back to the office on Friday. We are still experiencing lots of power cuts. On Saturday, we had a five hour one, 8 am to 1 pm, which put paid to much serious work. So here I am, Sunday night, attempting to tell you how I spent my week, obviously, without much internet!I went first to Buluh Besar Guard Post in the middle of the Park, and from there, to Pondok Ambung and Camp Leakey, where I met up with Brigitta. However, this all deserves its own post (to come soon), so I will just cut to today. My back garden has been as over-productive as usual and the latest banana tree, to try to outgrow the electrical wire to my water-pump, needed felling. What do we do with banana trees? Give them to Montana.
Montana with his banana tree. I went to the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine with a group of visiting researchers and found the big guy looking unusually bored. He was laid flat out with his massive head resting on his two fists. He didn’t even turn his head as we approached. Once the banana tree was near enough to be on offer, however, he sprang into action in a way that reminded me – yet again – never get too close: He’s quick! The stalk was inside in seconds, and then the leaves. And Montana was one happy orangutan.
Less pleased were the adolescents occupying the next-door enclosure, who wouldn’t normally dare so much as whimper at the adjacent cheek-padded Montana. Today, though, they were happy to demand attention from the visitors. We gave them extra leaves and they were delighted. I even managed to get a smile from one of them (unlike young chimpanzees that will literally giggle if tickled, orangutans seldom express pleasure), getting a full toothy grin was reward in itself.
Me with the adolescents. Thanks for your comments, Sheryl and Annie, about the paper (which we contributed to) mentioned in my last post, “Distribution and conservation status of the orangutan (Pongo spp.) on Borneo and Sumatra: How many remain?”. I agree, it is important to think positively and I don’t believe orangutans will become extinct. I think the programmes that we, and our partners, are working on in Central Kalimantan, will ensure this never occurs.
Compared with the week before, when I spent four days out of six in the field, this week seems to have been very office bound with only one visit to the Orangutan Care Centre. I guess that is what happens as audit-time approaches. One exciting thing did happened. Rene Bonke, a German PhD student arrived to begin research into the ecology of the Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), one of the world’s rarest crocodiles.
Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) Rene will be spending the next three months at Pondok Ambung Research Station in Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP). Earlier studies, on which we also collaborated, found “the highest ever recorded density of wild Tomistoma” on the river system leading to Pondok Ambung and Camp Leakey. Tomistoma are easily distinguished from the other species of crocodile found locally, the saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus).
Nancy, Cathy and Theresa, thank you very much for your donations. So far on Wildlife Direct when we have asked for your support we have always received a positive response. This is really, really appreciated. The rebuild of the “escapees’” enclosure is progressing well with one whole side already chopped away (of course, I forgot to take my camera some photos soon I promise). Brigitta delighted to know everything is all set for your trip. I will actually be in Tanjung Puting on the 9th so it is probably best if we make a date for the 10th. If you tell your boat driver to stop at Pondok Ambung I’ll meet you there. If for any reason, I have had to go on ahead to Camp Leakey just ask around and someone will point me out. I quite like the idea of videoed questions and videoed answers. I hope it works! Now onto more serious matters, I am surprised my last post, ‘Small feel of freedom’, was considered light-hearted. I admit the story of a bunch of adolescent orangutans running amok makes me smile, but the story of yet another orphan breaks my heart. And it breaks my heart that he came from a village we know, but outside of our project area. Why can’t we work everywhere? Late last night, Bhayu (Foundation’s Project Co-ordinator) and Teguh (The Guard Post Supervisor) got back from a trip to the Buluh Kecil and Buluh Besar Rivers in Tanjung Puting National Park, where they had accompanied a German scientist interested in studying TPNP’s peat forests. In one stretch of river, heading upstream from the Buluh Kecil post, they saw a phenomenal 26 wild orangutans.
You can just make out an orangutan in the middle of the trees. Admittedly, ketiau trees were in fruit, which had drawn the wildlife in, but still that number of orangutans in a journey of, at most, 10km is extraordinary. Two cheek padded males were happily eating less than 200m apart. Clearly, not a lot of competition there. Next, on the Buluh Besar River, our guys encountered a huge colony of fruit bats or flying foxes (Pteropus vampyrus). Flying foxes have a wingspan of up to 1.5m (4’) and have been described as “resembling a small eagle in flight.” According to Bhayu, this colony (or camp as they are technically called) numbered well into the 1,000’s yet elsewhere in Central Kalimantan they are, or already have been, hunted to virtual extinction. Today, I was told a story by an old friend and colleague, Fajar who does most of his work on the east side of Tanjung Puting. We are helping his team build a guard post there or, more accurately, relocate a guard post because the current site is about to be converted to a palm oil plantation. Fajar and his team were looking for a site for the new post. They went up the Baung River on day one and came back three days later. On the way up, they passed a stand of trees with long-tailed macaques and birds in it. When they came back, all the trees were gone.
Deforestation happens that quickly. And it is very, very real.
Fajar taking GPS reading of an oil palm plantation’s boundary. The photo shows Fajar taking a GPS reading in front of one of the plantation’s approved markers. It is a line of trees, like the one in the background, which has now been flattened. If you look at the map (sorry it is in Indonesian) you can see Pos Baung, the post we want to move and why. Amazingly, the company (P.T.) KUCC has already exceeded its designated area, planting out in P.T. Giat’s concession.
That is a border conflict that we find amusing, but cynical me thinks it will turn out that P.T. KUCC and PT Giat will have the same holding company which means it will make no difference to anyone at the end of the day. It certainly won’t change the fact that the forest, and its wildlife, will be gone. On the news I heard an announcement that Unilever has promised to only use “sustainable palm-oil” by the year’s end, despite their being no suitable palm oil yet on the market. Greenpeace replied “good, but what is needed immediately is a moratorium of forest clearance”. I am pleased with Unilever’s announcement – they do have the clout to drive change (and it’s consumers who have brought this about), but I agree with Greenpeace. This forest clearance has to stop. Read about Unilever’s announcement in the Jakarta Post
I had a great weekend but the home-coming was a little rough. As we have said, the orangutans at the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine (OCCQ) are let out to play and learn in the forest. That is good. When the orangutans let themselves out, that’s a problem! On Monday eight of the little, “less-than-adorable” orange bundles of mischief took it upon themselves to demonstrate just how rusty their enclosure had become. They popped out its side. Three were obviously a bit shocked at their new found freedom and contented themselves climbing up the outside. One went straight for the food room while the others dispersed themselves around the adjacent cages and our guess is they wanted to find the girls. All of which would be an amusing anecdote if weren’t for the fact that their enclosure really is beyond repair. For a long time we have actually being patching up earlier repairs but that is getting ridiculous. It is time for a rebuild. And, as the staff are quick to point out, there is another cage in almost the same state.
Photo of the enclosure (middle one) that has now broken.
I am writing in the hope you will consider donating towards the cost of the repairs. A rebuild will cost 13,000,000 Rupiah (approximately $1,410/£714 each). The Foundation has found the money for the first - just so we can minimise the over-crowding that would be caused by moving the eight escapees to other already occupied spaces. At this stage, we have no budget allocation for the extra repairs. We are hoping to raise $3000. This will cover the cage repairs and money remaining from your donations will go towards building temporary holding cages in Lamandau, our orangutan release site. Your support, helping us to reach this target, will be most appreciated. To put the “happy” story of the breakout into context, that same afternoon we received a tiny infant orangutan, probably around 9 months old. It is rumoured that his mother had been shot and eaten (a practice still carried out by some remote Dayak tribes), he was being kept tied up in a house. The village he came from is at the very southern edge of the Belantikan region but is in the same logging concession in which the Foundation/Yayorin’s, Belantikan Conservation Programme (BCP), work. The orphan was found by a couple of logging operation supervisors who took him from the house and gave him to Iman, head of the BCP team. Iman immediately set off on the seven hour drive back to the OCCQ.
I am sorry I did not have my camera with me on Monday - this is an orphan we received sometime ago called Abraham. Helpless doesn’t quite capture it, does it? That orphan will almost certainly have to remain in captivity for four years. And he is only one of the thirty or more orphans we are likely to receive this year. I think there is no better testament to the work of Mr Sehat, Dr Popo and all the other staff at the OCCQ that they can nurture tiny, helpless, traumatized orphans into the boisterous youngsters who then break out. The number of orphans we take in and the length of time rehabilitation takes also explain the wear and tear on the cages. A final word, to end on a positive note, what made my weekend so good: I went to Camp Leakey, the old orangutan release site. Seeing the orangutans which have been successfully rehabilitated, climbing free in the trees (see photos below) reminds you that there can be a happy outcome to such tragic beginnings. Apologies for my awful photography.
In my last few posts I have been explaining about orangutans and why they are dependent on the forests for their survival. However, the forests also need orangutans. I have mentioned that orangutans are primarily frugivorous and that they are experts at moving through the forest canopy. The combination of these factors makes the orangutan an excellent seed disperser. Also, because of their large size, orangutans are able to eat bigger-seeded fruit which other species in their ecosystem aren’t able to. Orangutans thus play a crucial role in propagating fruit trees. As orangutans move through the canopy they will inevitably bend or break branches, opening up the forest canopy. This allows light to reach the forest floor thus helping seedlings to grow and the forest regenerate. Truly, orangutans are a vital cog in the working of the rainforest ecosystem.
The rainforest floor - seedlings compete for light and space The interdependence between orangutans and the forest has huge implications for conservation. I think I have written before that Indonesia has the world’s highest deforestation rate; it also has the world’s highest number of threatened mammal species (146 species); is number two in the world for threatened bird species and remains high up there for the remaining taxonomic groups. To save the orangutan, you have to save the forest and when you save the forest you save everything else. (For better or worse, that includes spiders!) An example closer to my heart is the proboscis monkey, which is only found on Borneo. Tanjung Puting National Park has one of the largest remaining populations. Why? Because of our orangutan conservation work. As an aside, proboscis monkeys are fascinating in their own right. The males have a spectacular nose! (see photo)
Photo by Dr Mark Fellows - Male proboscis monkey (sorry the photo is so small) Another special thing about the proboscis monkey is that they swim, a rare behaviour amongst primates. Proboscis monkeys actually have slightly webbed hands and feet and are able to swim underwater for about 20 metres.
Proboscis monkey swimming Similarly, a study of the critically endangered Malaysian False Gharial, a type of crocodile, concluded “High observational records of Tomistoma at the main study site may represent the most viable and stable Tomistoma population of the entire National Park due to the conservation efforts of the Orangutan Foundation”.
False Gharial There is a lot I haven’t mentioned and I could go on but I don’t want this to turn into a textbook. I find the science of conservation fascinating; indeed the Foundation always argues conservation has to be based on sound science. But, as the saying goes, science only informs. It is passion that persuades. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. |
|
