ARE ORANGUTANS EMPATHETIC?
It was a usual day at the Nyaru Menteng forest school, where young orangutans were learning from one another while their human surrogate mothers looked on from below.
It had been a couple of weeks since our PRM team from Camp Lesik had seen Lesan and her baby, when they finally caught up with them a few days ago. The team managed to observe Lesan’s activities over a whole day – from the moment she woke in the morning, until she built her night nest in the evening.
We departed from Camp Lesik at 6 a.m. in search of Lesan’s nest. After searching for a while, we detected movements in a tree, which turned out to be Hamzah and Casey rising for the day. We remained focused on Lesan’s nest, however, until just after 7 a.m. when she finally appeared.
After waking, Lesan and her baby moved to a fig tree, with Casey following. Lesan ate some bark and then moved to another tree to eat cinnamon stems. Lesan took her time feeding with Casey trailing her wherever she went.
During the middle of the day, Lesan spent more time on the ground. She was observed kissing her baby and rubbing its hair as the infant suckled. This was the moment we were able to determine the sex of the baby – it’s a girl!
We discovered that Lesan’s baby is a girl!
Lesan’s Baby is a Girl! (Photo credit: Usup)
Lesan’s Baby is a Girl! (Photo credit: Handoko)
Lesan’s Baby is a Girl! (Photo credit: Desti)
Still hungry, Lesan moved to feed on nearby bamboo. She then retired to her morning nest to take a rest, but soon ventured out to feed again. After nearly an hour of eating, Lesan collected some twigs and fresh leaves to improve the construction of her morning nest and then rested there with her daughter. Meanwhile, Casey, who had been following them all morning, moved on to the trial called Transect Martin.
This is not the first time we have seen Lesan sharing her food sources with others – we once observed her sharing papaya with Juminten and it seems to this day she is still happy to share with Casey.
Clearly, Lesan is a good mother, as she and her baby daughter both appear to be in good health and thriving in the Kehje Sewen Forest.
It was a usual day at the Nyaru Menteng forest school, where young orangutans were learning from one another while their human surrogate mothers looked on from below.
Our Post-Release Monitoring (PRM) team at Camp Himba Pambelum in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR), Central Kalimantan, encountered Suci, a young female orangutan, three times back in 2023.
Kopral has been receiving treatment at the clinic since April 2023 due to wounds on the sole of his right foot and fungus between his toes.
