DOREN, OUR NEW MOTHER ON KAJA ISLAND

You might remember the story of Doren who disappeared for two months and was happily found by the Rungan River?. We now have more news that Doren is a proud mother.

Doren’s Pregnancy in Kaja Island
Following an examination last November by our medical team in Nyaru Menteng, we discovered that Doren was 4 months pregnant. Between February and mid-March 2015 she was less often observed by our daily island monitoring teams, and we were a little concerned at the reduced frequency we were able to see and monitor her.

But on 27th March 2015, Taufik our technician on duty patroling around Kaja Island called in and reported that he had seen Doren in a tree near one of the feeding platforms with little baby clinging to her! A few additional technicians and medics immediately went to the location to confirm Taufik’s exciting report.

Sure enough the beautiful female orangutan holding tightly onto her new baby, was indeed Doren. After finding the right time to take a closer look at Doren and her baby, we confirmed that her infant was a boy and we named him “Daichi”.

Doren’s Motherhood Struggles
Doren seemed to be very patiently taking care of Daichi on Kaja Island. But after 2 months, we received reports from our technicians that Daichi was seen weak and underweight. Our medical team immediately took both mother and infant to our clinic at Nyaru Menteng for observation.

It was then that we discovered that Doren was not producing sufficient milk, causing Daichi to become dehydrated. The Nyaru Menteng medical team gave Doren supplements to boost her milk production which seemed to work, and Doren appeared to be able to breast feed Daichi more frequently. But when Daichi was about to be reunited fully with Doren, the medical team found that Daichi’s blood pressure was low and we were left with no choice but to care for Daichi directly until his condition stablises.

During his stay at the Nyaru Menteng clinic, Daichi is cared by one our team, Yati. She is currently responsible for the administation for our Medical team, and she was previously a babysitter in Nyaru Menteng. When Doren herself was still a baby, Yati took care of her. Now Yati is also taking care of Doren’s baby, Daichi. You are in good hands Daichi as Yati is an expert carer!

Becoming a mother is a struggle, and every mother will always love, take care of and do the best for her child. We are convinced that Doren will be an extraordinary mother for Daichi, and they will be an amazing mother and child pair in the forest. It just might take us all a little longer to get back on track, but our team will do whatever it takes to get Doren and Daichi back together so both mother and son are safe and thriving.