Since the deployment of the new Reconyx cameras in the Bukit Batikap Protection Forest back in July last year, the BOS Foundation Post Release Monitoring (PRM) team has been collecting lots of wildlife images.
So far, the images from July to September have been reviewed and by placing the cameras in a more targeted way, i.e. specifically in “high traffic” orangutan areas, we have seen far more orangutan captures, which is extremely exciting.
We are currently going through the process of identifying individual orangutans, but obtaining more independent image captures of orangutans is great news. Of course, and as we experienced previously, reintroduced orangutans are much more curious than wild orangutans and as such, if one of the cameras catches the eye of a passing orangutan, sometimes they decide to investigate further. Like Gina before, a couple of orangutans have dedicated their time to “playing” with the cameras and have ultimately ended up damaging them.
Even though the cameras are in solid metal security boxes, the lens cannot be protected and a couple of the orangutans have spent a jolly time taking numerous selfies whilst prodding their fingers at the lens. Luckily, the team has been on hand to retrieve any damaged cameras for later repair.
We’ll keep you updated, and we wanted to thank you all again for your wonderful support of this project which is helping us to understand how the orangutans have distributed themselves through the forest. We hope you enjoy some of our most recent orangutan images!
Thank you so much again to all who have helped! We couldn’t do it without you.
