Monday, October 30, 2017

Zoomology Blog: Orangutans of Borneo - An Encounter with a Flanged Male


On our first morning in the rainforest at Danau Girang Field Centre, nestled on the Lower Kinabatangan river in Borneo, we were woken by the people of the forest.

We watched a female orangutan and her baby move through the trees in the morning light.

You can read our post about this experience here.

In the distance, we also had a brief glimpse of something bigger and louder, but dismissed it as either noisy proboscis monkeys or a young male orangutan.

A few days later while attempting to get some rest in our accommodation, something large moved through the trees just outside our window again.

There is no electricity during the three hours between 2pm-5pm at the field centre.

Being the hottest part of the day, many people retire to their rooms after a cold shower to wait out the thirty-something degrees Celsius heat, 100% humidity, and jungle stillness.

In my sleepy, yet uncomfortable state, I dismissed the movement as a group of pesky macaques.

Emma, however, decided to investigate the noise and peered through the mosquito screen.

She was greeted by Hantu (Malay for ‘ghost’), the Centre’s huge, mature, flanged male orangutan.

Once again, I was up like a shot, frantically chucking on my clothes and cramming my feet into boots.

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