(MY) Orang utans

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Scientists up close with orang utan all day long -New Straits Times*31 Aug

2006*

Roy Goh <roygoh

 

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*KOTA KINABALU: Eight scientists are living in the jungle with a quartet of

newly released orang utan, monitoring how they adapt to their new home.

*

The group, headed by British primatologist Sheena Hynd, is manning the

world's first orang utan monitoring station, opened recently in the

120,000ha Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Lahad Datu.

 

Their immediate task is to monitor two young males and two females from the

Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in Sandakan, released near the

station on Aug 24.

 

" A long-term study of this kind, particularly of rehabilitated orang utan,

has never been done before.

 

" The information gleaned will provide a new, detailed insight into the

behaviour of rehabilitated orang utan and assist conservation strategies, "

Hynd said.

 

She said the researchers will track the four young apes, recording

behavioural data until they have fully adapted to life in the wild. She

could not say how long this would take.

 

The other researchers are Malaysians Clifford Nathaniel, Joseph John,

Lineker Faitun, Alderian Jiwol, Wellson Loron, Mohd Sobri Kahar and Ray

Clement Madius, chosen because of their interest in the research.

 

" There is no tracking device that can be attached to an orang utan, so we

will follow the animals each day from about 5am to 7pm until they make their

night nest.

 

" Feeding, ranging and nesting behaviour will be recorded, and faecal and

other samples will be collected every day to see how the four adapt to their

new home, " Hynd added.

 

The monitoring station was jointly established by the Sepilok Orang Utan

Appeal UK, a British non-governmental organisation, the State Wildlife

Department and State Forestry Department.

 

The NGO has also funded the construction of a new quarantine ward, the

salary of a nurse, a Land Rover and a new enclosure at Sepilok.

 

The centre has been rehabilitating orang utan since its establishment in

1964, releasing them into the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve which surrounds

the centre.

 

There are at least 250 orang utan in the 43sq km Kabili-Sepilok Forest

Reserve, and 10 in the indoor nursery at the centre. In the Tabin Wild

Reserve the orang utan population is estimated at over 1,200.