A WEED, A SNACK, A WILDFLOWER, OR A REMEDY?
Wild plants are considered weeds if they can often outcompete other plants by dominating the absorption of nutrients, water, and sunlight. Melastoma malabathricum, a tiny shrub from the Melastomataceae family, is one of the weeds that grows abundantly in Bornean...
ARE ORANGUTANS EMPATHETIC?
It was a usual day at the Nyaru Menteng forest school, where young orangutans were learning from one another while their human surrogate mothers looked on from below. The treetop lessons are only interrupted momentarily for supplementary food breaks, but on this day,...
THE ART OF ORANGUTAN NEST BUILDING
Orangutans are arboreal mammals that spend most of their time in treetops. These mammals are known not only as “forest farmers” but also as skilled “forest architects,” with exceptional nest-building abilities. Most of their activities involve...
ORANGUTANS MAKE FOR FINE FOREST FORAGERS
Orangutans, being a species that spends most of their time in the trees, are able to consume a huge variety of foods. Their excellent climbing abilities enable them to obtain fruits and other food sources that are inaccessible to ground-dwelling animals. Of course,...