Recently, our Post-Release Monitoring (PRM) team from Camp Lesik, in the northern part of the Kehje Sewen Forest, East Kalimantan, conducted a routine phenology survey. Phenology involves observing how living things respond to changes in the seasons and climate of the environment in which they live.
While the team took a break, team member Hilal noticed some movement in the trees. He paid little attention to this until Usup, another technician, stood up in surprise: The movement in the trees turned out to be from an orangutan! Usup, Hilal, and their colleague Beni took a closer look to identify the orangutan they had spotted. From a distance, they soon realised that they had discovered not just one but two orangutans.
Upon closer inspection, the team immediately recognised the two orangutans as Sayang and her offspring, Padma. It was lovely to see the two in the middle of the forest looking for food. Before this, the team had only seen the mother-infant pair around the Camp Lesik area. However, they had not visited the camp for a long time, and our technicians had missed seeing them around.
The team was even more delighted to see that Sayang and Padma looked to be in good health, as indicated by their stable Body Condition Scores – ideal for orangutan bodies in the wild.
Worried that Sayang and her daughter would get too close and might become disturbed by their presence, Usup, Hilal, and Beni moved on to continue their work.
We hope Sayang and Padma stay in good health and continue to thrive in the wild!
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