In August, 2006, The Nature Conservancy sent a team of researchers to our Big Gift site in Borneo. Their assignment was to survey primate populations. In their first week, they sighted a total of five orangutans—three males and two females.

Because orangutans are solitary and elusive, sightings are very rare. Dr. Erik Meijaard, the Conservancy's chief biologist in Borneo and one of the world's leading experts on orangutans, has sighted orangutans in wild forests only six times in twelve years. The sightings in 2006 indicate an intact orangutan population and underscore the importance of student contributions to Big Gift East Kalimantan.

Seeing Orangutans on First Week in a Bornean Forest
By Stephanie Spehar and Paul Mathewson
From "Forest Science News" Issue 2(9): September 2006

During our first week conducting primate surveys along the road in the Wehea protected area, we had the incredible luck of encountering two female orangutans. We saw the first on our first day. A small, young female had been feeding in a fruiting tree with a couple of gibbons and was only visible for about one minute before she crashed off into the forest. We thought we had used up all our luck on our first day, but our last day proved us wrong.

We were finishing up recording a late-afternoon encounter with maroon langurs when we heard crashing nearby. We weren't sure what was making the noise. When we went over to investigate, we realized that the animal making the noise wasn't a langur or a gibbon, but one of the elusive orangutans of the area. As she began heading a little deeper into the forest, we hopped of the road to follow. Fortunately this was in an area that was relatively clear of undergrowth and easy to walk in.

The orangutan was easy to spot, as the late-afternoon sun set her red hair aflame against the jungle-green backdrop. After about 25 meters, she stopped in a large tree, about 15 meters off the ground, and turned to look at us. She continued to move around in the trees and pause to peer down at us, but we weren't sure if this was out of curiosity or concern. We were with her for approximately 15 minutes, but when she started kiss-squeaking [threatening sounds to warn us away], we left because we did not want to distress her.

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, close to bedtime for orangutans, when we encountered her. We noticed two nests in the area, one of which was still quite green, indicating that it was recently used. Perhaps the orangutan was nesting in the area for the night.

Mixing with the Men of the Forest
By Chris Gordon and Anne-Marie Stewart

A hot, sweaty 7-kilometer hike to begin our road transects. Uphill all the way! Certainly not the ideal way to start work. But then, 50 meters further on, we fell silent as the vegetation cracked up ahead.

A solid arm swung up the nearest trunk, and he effortlessly lifted himself off the ground by the side of the road. The male orangutan in all his splendor: thick red hair, black face, massive cheek pouches.

He turned to look at us, weighing up the threat. He was far stockier than we imagined orangutans to be. The moment caught us all frozen, 15 meters from one another. He climbed higher and then suddenly, the tree swayed as he shifted his weight to take him to the next. His following two swings were onto trees too small to hold his weight. They buckled and bowed as he moved swiftly onwards.

Then he stopped and turned to assess whether the danger pursued. It didn't. We were too awe-struck to do anything. We didn't even get a photo, but it didn't matter. Those are the times that you just enjoy the moment. How do you return to work after an encounter like that?

Our excitement in Wehea wasn't finished there. The following day, while walking even further to our transects, we passed through a section of thick vegetation that had reclaimed most of the road. Our progress was abruptly halted as the last 4 meters of a King Cobra crossed our path 5 meters ahead.

We didn't even see the head, but it must have been at least 5 meters in length, an uncommonly large specimen for Borneo! Given that cobras can strike half their body length, we gave it a very respectful length of time to slither away before moving any further. Needless to say, we stomped very loudly through the area on our way home.

Our day hadn't ended yet. On our return, we had a visitor to camp. Another male orangutan, bigger than the last, passed through the trees, undisturbed by our presence. He climbed high into the canopy and proceeded to settle in for the night as he made his nest just 40m from camp.

He demonstrated his raw power to us first-hand as he readily snapped branches from nearby trees and laid the leaves into the crook of his tree. Darkness descended as we all caught up on sleep.

Next morning, for the first time this year, we enthusiastically rose at 5:30am in order to watch him stir slowly. He yawned lazily several times, displaying the enormity of his mouth, before he crashed noisily off into the forest.