The first time I saw an orangutan (it means “man of the forest” in Indonesian) up close and personal was at the Sun Surf Animal Hospital in California in 1983. I was a relatively new graduate and learning how to work on exotic and zoo animals like this orangutan. His name was CJ, and he was the backup orangutan for one named Manis in the Client Eastwood orangutan movie “Every Which Way but Loose”. In the movie Manis is called Clyde.
Whenever CJ made an appearance I called my special clients to come in and meet him at his favorite chair in my reception area. After a bunch of photos were taken in CJ would come for his exam.
When I first started working with CJ I never thought in my wildest imagination that I would go to Borneo two times, in 1991 and in 2012, to work with wild ones in the rainforests of Borneo. To see them in their native habitat at a place called Camp Leakey (named after anthropologist Lewis Leakey) in Tanjung Puting National Park was a dream come true, and I will be sharing that story over the next several posts.
Lewis Leakey, the famous anthropologist sent three women to study the great apes:
- Jane Goodall to study the chimpanzees at Gombe Game Reserve in Tanzania
- Dian Fossey to study the mountain gorillas in Rwanda
- Birute Galdikas to study the orangutans in Borneo. This post, and the others that follow, is about the orangutans.
On my first trip there in 1991 I examined a group of baby orangutans that were ill. Most had the typical parasites and traumatic lesions that were routine and treatable. One of them was ill with pneumonia, and was cared for by the dedicated staff.
Examining a baby orangutan is not something you learn in veterinary school. They are powerful, and with their “four arms” are almost impossible to keep still, even with several holders.
It is good to enlist help when you attempt to examine one
When you are done you are not sure who ended up getting the exam!
This picture is from my first trip there in 1991 after the exam
I tried to recreate the 1991 picture on the 2012 trip, and think I did a pretty good job.
I will continue this story in future posts as I describe what it is like to go there, what it is like in the rainforest and how it has changed over the years (and not for the better), and what it is like to work with the orangutans and the people dedicated to preventing their extinction.