Orangutans in Action at Tanjung Harapan

Here are some of the orangutans we watched at Tanjung Harapan in action.

The first video features an orangutan who has a second career as a pole dancer if that whole living in the forest thing doesn't work out for her:

The orangutan in this video also has some interesting moves:

I love how wary this one is about taking cassava off the platform while the big yoga male is standing there. 

Orangutans at Tanjung Harapan, Part 2

As you can tell from the fact that I needed to break our first afternoon orangutan viewing session into 2 separate blog posts (and from the photo below), we were entranced (and maybe a little mosquito bitten):

After we'd spent hours watching and photographing them, our guide practically had to drag us away for dinner.  So much to see!  

So many orangutans to anthropomorphize, including this one, who was clearly thinking "Oooooh, cassava!  Don't mind if I do!":

I love how this one's hair looks crimped:

This mom and baby who stopped in for a bit were pretty freaking adorable:

It was all we could do to not try to grab it and stuff it in our bags:

Especially when, while trying to get something to eat from his mom, this happened... wha??!!  As Eileen would say, "Stop!":

This big fella was also quite amusing.  He maintained this yoga-esque position for about 15 minutes while snacking... what is that move?  Modified tree pose?  I guess it's appropriate for the setting:

He's the first guy we saw with fairly big facial flanges (the big cheek flap things).  Our guide told us and the internets confirmed that the cheek flanges develop as the males orangutans age, and grow larger (via release of hormones?) each time the orangutan wins a fight such that the most senior/dominant male in the group has the largest cheek flaps... they also have these enormous "pendulous neck flap" thingies that help them with their "long call," which attracts the ladies...

Uggg... orangutan babies... just stop.  Too cute.

Baby orangutans are completely dependent on their mothers for the first two years of their life and then continue to be carried by their moms until they are 5, although they do a lot of exploring on their own at that point, as we observed later in the trip.  They breast feed until they're 8, which sounds like a lot of work for those moms!

Dudes, this was only the first afternoon of three days of orangutans and other jungle dwellers.  I hope you're ready for even more.

Orangutans at Tanjung Harapan, Part 1

And, finally, what you've been waiting for... orangutans!!

I have included an absurd number of photos in this blog post, but it barely scratches the surface of all the shots I actually took.  Feel free to check out the full album if you're bored.  Eileen also has some great pics.

Still waiting on Jenny's photos... Jenny!!!! *Shakes fist in the air*

A little bit of background on orangutans, for your edification:

Did you know that orangutan means "forest person" in Indonesian (orang = person/people, hutan = forest)?  Well, now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Also, you should know that orangutans are gravely endangered, with some estimating that they will be extinct in the wild within 10 years.  The main threat to their existence is rapid deforestation on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, the only places that orangutans live in the wild.  The deforestation is largely due to illegal logging for purposes of planting palm oil plantations as well as making wood and paper products.  Orangutans live 95% of their time in the forest canopy and rely on the forest for shelter and food, so without it, they are basically SOL.  Many of the orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park are rehabilitated (or the offspring of rehabilitated orangutans) meaning that they were saved from the illegal pet trade or found wandering after their habitat was razed and replaced with a palm oil plantation. After their rehabilitation, they were released into the forest in the park and are now semi-wild, living on their own and foraging for food in the forest, but returning to feeding stations in the park when food is scarce in the forest. 

About two hours after hopping on our klotok and leaving the port at Kumai, not long after gawking at the troop of proboscis monkeys, and once the rain slowed a bit, we hopped off the boat at our first stop: Tanjung Harapan.  Part of Tanjung Puting National Park, Tanjung Harapan (which roughly translate to Cape Hope or Hope Point) is one of the former release/current feeding sites for the orangutans living in the park.

We first stopped to look at the map in the mini-village that houses some of the Orangutan Foundation/park staff, then hiked into the forest about 20 minutes when we stumbled upon this guy below, our first orangutan sighting:

After marveling over this guy for a few minutes, we spotted more and more orangutans, kicking it in the trees.  Absolutely amazing.  And yes, orangutans spend approximately 80% of their day in hanging from trees in awkward looking spread eagle positions, based on my scientific research and photo documentation:

The other 20% of their time is spent looking pensive and/or eerily human.  A reminder of how close they are to us on the evolutionary ladder:

It just got better and better as we got closer to the feeding station, one of several raised wooden platforms from which the park staff feed the rehabilitated orangutans (as well as some wild ones who show up for a snack when there is little fruit available in the forest).  Each day the park staff bring fruit and vitamin-enriched milk to the platform for the orangutans to supplement their diet of fruit gathered from the ever dwindling forest habitat.

These orangutans were loitering near the food station, sticking to the trees on the outskirts of the feeding area until lunch was actually served.  Orangutans are typically pretty solitary animals, so I think they are a little wary about being around other orangutans (and people, for that matter), particularly other males, in this situation.

When the food and drink showed up, however, it was party time and orangutans started coming out of the woodwork... literally:

Angling for space on the platform, or just grabbing a bite to go (di bungkus, these guys might say), the orangutans are all about the cassava that the park rangers brought:

Even some moms and toddlers joined the dinner party:

The milk was a big hit for the orangutans, and watching their various drinking methodologies and resultant milk mustaches was a big hit for us as observers.

Moustaches/beards:

 1. The Head Dip/Feeding Trough Method:

2. The Shower/Is There Anything In Here Method:

Method #3, the Scoop, Pout and Pour Method will be documented in a later blog post.  This one is already too unwieldy and must be broken into two.