Orangutan Outreach Website - Saving the Orangutan

It is often said that animals can sense a coming earthquake. Is there any truth in this? How did animals behave before, during and after the Sichuan earthquake? A Xinhua reporter visited the Chengdu Zoo in search of answers.

At 6:30 PM on May12, the reporter arrived at the zoo, the city having experienced an earthquake that afternoon. No visitors were to be seen, but things were still very noisy because of the unusual behavior of the animals.

Some places in the zoo were quiet; others not at all. In the Parrot House the birds were squawking in an unusual manner. They seemed very anxious and were struggling to escape.

Mr. Wu, the zoo’s Breeder of Birds, spoke about what had happened in the afternoon: “The Bird House began to shake violently at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, which made the baby parrots and peacocks flee in disorder. Fortunately the door was closed, or else they would have escaped.”

“Inside the Penguin House, the water in the pool suddenly began to churn and the frightened penguins had no idea where to run”, Wu said.

In the Orangutan House, the tame orangutans become violent, using all their strength to bang on the door and shake the iron chains.

Many keepers in the zoo said there were no abnormal signs before the earthquake. “Only after the earthquake, some animals behaved very unusually. I’ve never seen them like this before”, Wu said.

The zoo has already adopted emergency measures to ensure the safety of the animals. Big animals such as elephant, hippopotamus and giraffe have been removed from their glass cages to safer places. All the animals are secure, and no problems have been reported in Chengdu’s panda breeding research base.

Source: http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2008-05/13/content_15193679.htm

(China.org.cn by Xiang Bin, May 13, 2008)

A NEW logging road will threaten the back yard of the only Australian zoo-born orangutan released into the Indonesian wilderness, environmentalists warn.

Conservation groups fear the 20m-wide thoroughfare cutting a swath through the landscape south of Bukit Tigapuluh national park in Sumatra signals the beginning of the end for most of the thick forest landscape.

Only a third of the 450,000ha forest block is protected as national park, home to the only Australian zoo-born Sumatran orangutan to be released into the wild.

In 2006 Temara, now 15, of Perth Zoo, became the first zoo-bred Sumatran orangutan ever placed in her natural habitat.

The concerns came as another group said one of Borneo’s biggest wild orangutan populations would be extinct in three years without drastic measures to end palm oil plantation expansion.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23662337-663,00.html

Johanna Hampton of Boring, Oregon is an 8-year-old with a huge passion for orangutans.

When she accompanied her father, a Metro employee, to his holiday party at the Oregon Zoo in December, she was drawn to a tabletop display seeking to raise funds for the zoo’s new orangutan exhibit, Red Ape Reserve.

Inspired by her school’s just-completed fundraiser for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Johanna wondered why she couldn’t raise money for the orangutans’ new home. She put together a PowerPoint presentation for Deep Creek Elementary School’s student council, proposing a “Family Movie Night” that would include a donated movie and food.

Her project received the council’s approval and served as the focus of her school’s Earth Day kickoff assembly April 16. Oregon Zoo primate keepers Asaba Mukobi and Dave Thomas brought a model of the zoo’s exhibit to the event and discussed the plight of orangutans.

Matthew Hampton said some of his daughter’s enthusiasm has been fueled by the Animal Planet series “Orangutan Island.” The show documents the lives of several dozen orphaned orangutans at the Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation center in Borneo. Johanna, determined to visit Borneo, has been exchanging e-mails with Richard Zimmerman, director of Orangutan Outreach, a nonprofit dedicated to orangutan conservation.

The organization has donated a copy of the BBC documentary “Orangutan Diaries” for the 6 p.m. fundraiser Friday at the school. The students also secured donations of organic fruits and vegetables from Organically Grown Co. and DiGiorno pizzas from Kraft Foods for the event.

Orangutan Outreach is the U.S. affiliate of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the Indonesian nonprofit that runs Nyaru Menteng. Information is available at http://redapes.org.

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/metroeast/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_east_news/1208899517149580.xml&coll=7

El Zoo de Santillana del Mar mostrará esta Semana Santa por primera vez juntas a Victoria y Juliana, ejemplares de orangután de Sumatra. El Zoo de Santillana es el único lugar de España donde se pueden ver este tipo de orangutanes y el único de Europa donde puede verse a dos hermanas criadas juntas y en proceso de introducción en su grupo familiar

Juliana, que está a punto de cumplir año y medio, y Victoria, un año mayor, pasan actualmente el día en la ‘casita de Victoria’, porque es donde disponen de vídeo vigilancia. Por la noche pasan al dormitorio interior con sus padres, Budi y María

Según explicó el Zoo en un comunicado, el proceso de introducción de las hermanas en su grupo familiar está siendo “todo un éxito”, tanto es así que este año la Fundación Zoo de Santillana ha presentado esta iniciativa, conocida como ‘Proyecto Pongo’, a los Premios Medio Ambiente Cantabria 2008 promovidos desde la Consejería de Medio Ambiente del Gobierno regional

Tras muchos meses de trabajo con los padres de Victoria y de Juliana, los conservadores del Zoológico de Santillana afirman que dentro de poco Victoria pasará ya todo el día con María y Budi, porque hasta ahora sólo convive con ellos por la noche. Después, en unos meses será el turno de Juliana, que “lo tendrá mucho más fácil” porque contará con Victoria “como aliada para apoyarla en su adaptación”

María, la madre de Victoria y Juliana, fue la primera orangután de Sumatra nacida en España, y sus dos hijas han sido respectivamente la segunda y tercera

EL ORANGUTÁN DE SUMATRA

El orangután de Sumatra se encuentra, según la UICN (Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza), en peligro crítico y afronta por tanto “un gran riesgo de extinción en la naturaleza”

También está protegido por el CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) y por la legislación de Indonesia, pero, “a pesar de todas estas medidas, si no se hace algo al respecto, podría extinguirse en los próximos diez o veinte años en Sumatra”

El orangután es un habitante de los árboles, se alimenta, duerme y se reproduce en el dosel del bosque bajando sólo ocasionalmente los machos a tierra. La hembra da a luz en un nido ubicado en la copa de un árbol y la diminuta cría se sujeta a su madre mientras ella se encarama por el dosel. La madre y su hijo permanecen juntos hasta que la cría tiene siete años

Por lo general, y a diferencia del resto de los simios, el orangután es un animal solitario, aunque se puede reunir con otros para comer en los árboles frutales y las hembras adolescentes a veces viajan en compañía de otras jóvenes durantes unos días. Su alimentación es variada, y aunque la fruta es su alimento favorito, también comen hojas, huevos, miel y animales pequeños como lagartijas, polluelos y termitas

Como el resto de los simios, los orangutanes son sumamente inteligentes, sin embargo, esta inteligencia no les permitirá combatir la gran amenaza a la que esta especie se enfrenta debido a la desaparición de su hábitat por la acción del hombre

En el caso de los Orangutanes de Sumatra, la estimación más reciente de la población actual es muy inferior a la de del Orangután de Borneo y quedan unos 7.300 orangutanes que ocupan 20,552 kilómetros cuadrados de bosque de la isla de Sumatra

Source: http://it.passado.com/blogEntry.aspx?entry_id=275058

Deep Creek Elementary student leads April 25 fund-raiser for Oregon Zoo orangutans

PORTLAND, Ore. — Johanna Hampton is a petite 8-year-old with a huge passion for orangutans. When she accompanied her father, a Metro employee, to his holiday party at the Oregon Zoo last December, she was drawn to a tabletop display seeking to raise funds for the zoo’s new orangutan exhibit, Red Ape Reserve. Inspired by her Damascus school’s just-completed fund-raiser for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Johanna wondered why she couldn’t raise funds to help the orangs get a new home.

“She thought the orangutan habitat expansion was a great idea,” said her father, Matthew Hampton. “I told her to ask the principal, and he directed her to the student council.”

Johanna put together a PowerPoint presentation for Deep Creek Elementary’s student council, proposing a “Family Movie Night” that would include a donated movie and food. She made her pitch, and her project received the council’s approval — and cooperation.

“I think it’s pretty neat that it’s the kids who are pushing this forward,” Hampton said.

The students have secured donations of organic fruits and vegetables from Organically Grown Co. and DiGiorno pizzas from Kraft Foods for the fund-raiser.

According to Jeff Hays, principal of Deep Creek, Johanna’s project has provided a focus for the school’s Earth Day celebration.

“The student council was inspired by Johanna’s project and immediately thought it would tie into Earth Day,” said Hays. “As a Premier Green School, our students are well educated in waste reduction, and energy and water conservation, so her orangutan project helps them to branch out and think globally.”

Endangered species will be the feature of the school’s Earth Day special assembly, Wednesday, April 16, at 12:40 p.m., with Oregon Zoo primate keepers Dave Thomas and Renee Cressa appearing as special guests. Thomas and Cressa will discuss the plight of orangutans in the wild and give students a peek at a model of the zoo’s new orangutan exhibit.

Family Movie Night will be held at the school, 15600 SE 232nd Dr., in Damascus, on Friday, April 25, at 6 p.m. Entrance fee is by donation. Proceeds benefit the zoo’s Red Ape Reserve exhibit.

According to Hampton, some of his daughter’s enthusiasm has been fueled by the Animal Planet series “Orangutan Island,” which documents the lives of several dozen orphaned orangutans at the Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation center in Borneo. Johanna, determined to visit Borneo, has been exchanging e-mails with Richard Zimmerman, director of Orangutan Outreach, a nonprofit dedicated to orangutan conservation. The organization has donated a copy of the BBC documentary “Orangutan Diaries” for the Family Movie Night fund-raiser.

Orangutan Outreach is the U.S. affiliate of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the Indonesian nonprofit that runs Nyaru Menteng. To learn more about Orangutan Outreach and its efforts to protect wild orangutans, visit http://redapes.org.

Source: http://www.oregonzoo.org/Newsroom/2008releases/2008Mar.htm#johanna

(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A safari park in Israel has altered the diet of its animals in preparation for the upcoming Jewish Passover holiday.

The eight-day Passover begins on Saturday but officials at the Ramat Gan Safari in Tel Aviv have already made the place kosher for the holiday.

So instead of eating foods made with flour, the orangutans at the zoo are being given the kosher version of bread - matzo.

Safari curator Amalia Turkel explained that during Passover “all leavened bread is removed from kitchens and everything is clean.”

“For the animals we are also required to do the same thing,” she added.

The orangutans appear to enjoy the change.

“The fact is, that they are getting a novel food, something new that they haven’t tasted for a while, maybe not since last year. For them that’s interesting in the short term,” MsTurkel said.

The Passover holiday celebrates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt back to biblical Israel.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

Source: http://itn.co.uk/news/5ae71d45e0ebdd80756e36789d43639a.html

El zoo de Fuengirola ha recibido a una hembra de orangután de Borneo (Pongo Pygmaeus), llamada Siera, de 12 años de edad y procedente del zoo de San Petersburgo, en el marco de uno de los 35 programas de reproducción europeos (EEP) de especies en grave peligro de extinción en los que participa el recinto.

El objetivo de este traslado es aumentar el grupo reproductor de orangutanes de Borneo formado en 2005 en el zoo fuengiroleño, que ya cuenta con Nakal, un macho adulto de 19 años que procedía de Paignton (Inglaterra) y Mukah, hembra de 10 años procedente del zoo de Hong-Kong y que ya ha tenido una cría, Banggy.

El nuevo ejemplar se encuentra en fase de adaptación a su nuevo hogar, por lo que, para verla, los visitantes deben acercarse al zoo por las mañanas. Así, aunque Siera aún no ha tenido descendencia, los veterinarios del recinto creen que pronto podría quedar preñada.

Según indicaron en un comunicado, iniciativas de este tipo son “muy necesarias”, ya que la tasa de natalidad de los orangutanes es muy baja, tan sólo una cría cada ocho o nueve años, siendo una especie en grave peligro de extinción.

Durante los últimos 20 años se ha deforestado cerca de un 80 por ciento del hábitat del orangután, por lo que los investigadores prevén que dentro de un decenio se habrá extinguido la mayor población natural de orangutanes. Se calcula que quedan aproximadamente 12.000 orangutanes de Borneo y sólo 9.000 de la especie de Sumatra.

Se trata de los más arborícolas de todos los grandes simios, pasando casi todo el tiempo en los árboles y únicamente se encuentran en los bosques tropicales de las islas de Borneo y de Sumatra.

Poseen un alto nivel cognitivo y se ha demostrado que los padres se ocupan de transmitirles “saberes” a sus hijos. De hecho, les enseñan cómo utilizar hojas como si fueran guantes o cómo emplear un palo como herramienta para sacar insectos de troncos o para extraer semillas de frutos espinosos.

http://www.diariosur.es/20080411/local/marbella-costa/fuengirola-recibe-hembra-orangutan-200804111921.html

Orangutan Towan of Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, made national news on the recent broadcast of “Weekend Edition” with Scott Simon. Gigi Allianic, the zoo’s PR manager, noted Towan’s interest in painting and his intensity in creating his “art.”

You can hear the piece at the following link to NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89583858

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Apr. 10, 2008

Two animal keepers at zoos in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture hope to help extinguish the threat facing orangutans in Malaysia with a novel item–old fire hoses.

Hidetoshi Kurotori, of Tama Zoological Park in Hino, western Tokyo, and Shigekazu Mizushina, at Ichikawa Zoological and Botanical Garden in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, will place lengths of used fire hoses among trees and across rivers to help orangutan bands that have become isolated in deforested areas to migrate to other forests.

Kurotori, 55, and Mizushina, 41, plan to leave Monday for Malaysia. Their project will start around the Kinabatangan River, which runs through northeast Borneo Island.

Forest development is expanding in the area to produce palm oil, resulting in a rapid decrease of orangutan food sources, including fruits, tree bark and leaves. The decrease in trees also limits the orangutans’ activities, leaving some bands isolated in the forests as the ape, which does not like water, cannot swim across rivers to move to other areas.

Researchers are concerned that the great ape might become weaker as a species if such bands remain isolated and unable to interact with each other.

The idea of using fire hoses to save orangutans came first to Isabelle Lackman-Ancrenaz, a French researcher who had been based on the island to study and protect the species.

In October, when she came to Japan to give lectures on orangutans, she observed orangutans at the Tokyo zoo moving around in their captive space by hanging from fire hoses that were provided for them. She thought the hoses also could be introduced on Borneo, as a bridge to cross rivers and assist mobility in the forests.

In February, Lackman-Ancrenaz and local researchers placed two fire hoses over the Kinabatangan River. However, the cautious orangutans did not use it, so she asked Kurotori and Mizushina for advice.

The two zookeepers are planning to place used fire hoses on trees in Borneo’s forests, allowing orangutans to gradually get used to the hoses by having the animals play freely with them.

The pair also plans to stretch hoses over the 10-meter-wide river to act as a bridge between trees on both banks.

For the project, they have sent 38 10-meter lengths of fire hose to the island. The hoses, which had been used at a fire station in Osaka, were donated by a Japan-based nonprofit organization.

If the project proves successful, a local support group in Malaysia will increase the locations where hoses are placed.

According to Kurotori, it is not unusual for zoo-captive animals to play with hoses and other artificial items, but he “had never imagined it could be used in the wild.” He added, “I’d be so happy if Japanese zoos’ know-how can help to save orangutans.”

The term orangutan means “a person living in the forest” in the Malay tongue. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List, the wild orangutan population is thought to have decreased to less than half the numbers of 60 years ago.

The number of the orangutans living on Borneo Island is estimated to range from 45,000 to 69,000.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080410TDY03301.htm 

By The Denver Post

The zoo gave Robin a belated birthday party today.

The male orangutan turned 32 on March 27, but he had to wait until this morning to have his cake.

Of course, the Denver Zoo didn’t feed the ape a real cake — his was made from monkey chow, berries, peanut butter and raspberry mouse.

Robin also received a present of popcorn, nuts and sugar-free candy, the zoo said in a news release.

The zoo is celebrating APE-ril this weekend, an opportunity to learn all about apes. The event is Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The zoo said Robin and all the other apes — including gorillas and gibbons — will have enrichment events during the celebration. The activities are designed to stimulate their minds and bodies.

There will be feeding demonstrations both days in Primate Panorama: the gorillas at noon, orangutans at 2 p.m. and red river hogs at 12:15 p.m. The African farm, the Kraal, which doesn’t officially open until Memorial Day weekend, will also be open during the event, including dancers and storytellers.

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8797901