The Story of Bonita and Randang

BOS Nyaru Menteng Clinic -- Everyone who sets foot in the BOS Nyaru Menteng Clinic is puzzled by the behavior of Randang and Bonita. The same question always comes to mind. People simply assume that the two orangutans are mother and child. But it’s not only people who seem to think this way.

Bonita, a six-year-old female orangutan, is clearly attached to Randang, a small female orangutan aged around two to two-and-a-half years who hangs on to Bonita as though seeking protection from her own mother. This has been happening on for around two months. Almost every day the two are always together and don’t want to be separated. Randang always climbs onto Bonita's back as though she is her mother.

This story began about 2 months ago, when Randang and Bonita were both in the same group at the playground clinic. This area is for orangutans from Forest School who are recovering from illness, were recently rescued, or are in the process of having their regular health exams. Previously, Bonita had been on the transitional forest island Pallas II (known to millions of television viewers as 'Orangutan Island', but last year when she fell seriously ill, she was taken off the island and brought back to the Nyaru Menteng clinic for treatment. She is still recovering.

Randang was confiscated from the KSDA (forestry) office of the village of Timpah, which is in the Kapuas Province in Central Kalimantan, on the 26th of June 2007 when she was between one-and-a-half and two years old. According to her ex-owner, Randang hadn’t been in captivity long and she was not used to being around people. This meant that Randang had to be placed in the playground clinic, as she was too wild to be able to join the Forest School. When she first arrived at the playground clinic, Randang certainly looked scared and tended to seek protection from larger orangutans, one of whom was Bonita-- who often let Randang climb onto her. At first Bonita seemed indifferent to Randang’s habit, mostly because there were many other orangutans the same age as Bonita who she could play with in the playground clinic. Bonita didn’t try to follow or approach Randang. However, two months later, all of the other orangutans had recovered and only Bonita and Randang were left.

From that day onward, the two were always together. Wherever Bonita went, Randang always followed, holding onto her fur in the same way as a baby orangutan hangs on to his or her mother. Furthermore, Bonita could also be seen hugging Randang in the same way as a mother orangutan protects her child. Interestingly, Bonita is only six years old and obviously hasn’t had any of her own children, but now she looks after Randang the same way as an orangutan mother would. Randang acts the same way any baby orangutan would with his or her mother: She often hangs from Bonita.

When you see Randang suckle from Bonita, Bonita just sits quietly as though suckling her own child. To see two orangutans who love each other so much is a very heart-warming scene. According to Dr. Siska, it will be very difficult to separate the two now-- especially when Bonita (who is still undergoing her treatment) must be separated from Randang to have her medicine. It is not just Randang who hangs on to Bonita; often, if Randang is far away, Bonita will try to come closer. Once Bonita is healthy again the two will be separated because Bonita must return to the transitional forest island, Pallas II (Orangutan Island). But for now, Bonita & Randang are still together in the playground clinic at BOS Nyaru Menteng.