Borneo: Man of the Forest

I spent four weeks over Christmas on the island of Borneo. Like Madagascar, it is an island famous for its unusual and endemic wildlife (meaning plants and animals only found in Borneo).

 


Borneo is the fourth largest island in the world, and it's shared by three countries: Malaysia and Indonesia, which each have other land areas that make up their countries, and the small country called Brunei. I spent my time in the Malaysian section of Borneo.

The most famous animal, and the one I'm the most excited about seeing, is the orangutan. They are found only in Borneo, and Sumatra, which is just beside Borneo. Orangutans are our fourth closest relative in the animal kingdom, after chimps, bonobos, and gorillas. They, like us, are apes, a subset of primates, which are a subset of mammals. I've been fortunate enough to see three other ape species on my journey so far: Gorillas in Uganda, Chimpanzees in Rwanda, and of course, humans!

The Animal Kingdom

Apes

(Notice that monkeys are not on here because they're not Apes...remember, apes don't have tails!)


The orangutan is the only ape species (other than humans) found in Asia. Its name means "man of the forest" in the language Bahasa ('orang' means 'person' and 'hutan' means 'forest'). Sadly, the habitat of the orangutan is disappearing at an alarming speed. Ten years ago, there were 60 000 orangutans in Borneo, but now there are only
40 000. In place of the natural rainforest that used to be here, there are now endless palm oil plantations.




Orangutans are a slow species to recover from loss because a female orangutan can only get pregnant a few times in her life, with usually eight years in between her pregnancies to care for her young. I will now be sure to do my part by avoiding foods with palm oil in them, and supporting charities that help indigenous groups (people native to Borneo) protect their land and the orangutan habitat.

Notice the baby hanging from its mother's legs!

I was excited to see orangutans in two different places in Borneo. The first place was Sepilok, where there is a rehabilitation centre for babies that are found orphaned from their mothers, or taken illegally from the forest as pets. The centre teaches the baby orangutans how to swing on vines, provides food for them, and cares for them with lots of cuddles. Once they've started to learn the skills they'll need to survive on their own, they're paired up and shown more of the forest. They're encouraged to start to find their own food. When they're ready, they're released into the forest surrounding the centre with their partner.

As a way of supporting them, in case they can't find enough food on their own, the rehabilitation centre puts out a small amount of food on a platform twice a day. The orangutans know they can come and get food there if they can't find enough in the forest. The centre makes sure the food is kind of boring, so they are encouraged to still hunt for food themselves.

The public are allowed to go into the forest for those two feeding times so that they can see the orangutans up close. They are very gentle and shy animals, so it's hard to see them in the wild. You never know how many orangutans will show up each day, because it's their choice if they come get food or not. I was lucky enough to see six different orangutans including a little baby! The mother who came with a baby used to be an orphan herself.

The second place I went looking for orangutans was in the wild. They like to hunt for food high up in trees along rivers, so I visited the Kinabatangan River, close to Sepilok. I was fortunate enough to see one big male up in a tree, but it was fairly far away.

I saw many other interesting animals in Borneo; check my next post to see more!