MEETING WITH LESAN AND CASEY

Apart from focusing on nest to nest observations of Yayang and her new baby, the Post Release Monitoring (PRM) team is responsible for conducting regular patrlos and monitoring for the other orangutans we have reintroduced into the Kehje Sewen Forest. Conducting nest to nest observations means an early start for our team and making sure we leave camp well before sunrise so we can reach the individual orangutans' nest before he or she wakes.

Once the orangutan commences his/her activities, we record data every 2 minutes on everything from what he or she eats, to when they rest or play or meet up with other orangutans; everything is recorded. We do this until late afternoon when that individual orangutan builds a new nest to sleep for the night. This allows us to assess their adaptation and behaviour in comparison to wild orangutan.
 

Reunion with Lesan

Lesan is one female teenage orangutan whose signals had not been detected by the PRM team for at least the previous 4 months. The last time we encountered her was when she was with Casey and Hamzah playing near.

But on that day, several weeks ago, we saw Lesan spending time on a tree in front of Camp Lesik. It seemed like she came from the direction of Ariyo transect.
 
Lesan looked busily eating Piper aduncum fruit while occasionally took a glimpse at us taking notes on and observing her activities for 2 hours. Finishing her meal, Lesan went to leave Camp Lesik by swinging from one tree to another.

The Healthy Casey

A week after meeting Lesan, the PRM team conducting patrol on the Mobil Mogok transect accidentally met Casey. We were trying to find a better orangutan transmission by climbing up the ridge in Mobil Mogok transect, when suddenly Casey appeared from behind the bushes near us, and really took us by surprise.

For the next 2 hours of observation, we saw Casey eating a lot of shoots, climbing up trees several times, and resting. After finishing the observation, we took off and carefully leave Casey not trying to disturb her activities. It was getting dark, so we head back to Camp Lesik.

It is overwhelming to see the two females clearly thriving and passing a 3 year milestone in Kehje Sewen Forest. We continue to hope that all the released orangutans will keep on living a happy and prosperous life in their true home of Kehje Sewen Forest.