Hi and welcome. During our time in Borneo we went to see the young orang utans at the Shangri La Rasa Ria resort in Kota Kinabalu. A Rehabilitation Programme was initiated by the resort in support to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center of the Sabah Wildlife Department. To date, a total of 32 Orangutans have successfully passed the first stage of the rehabilitation process and subsequently returned to Sepilok for the second stage and final rehabilitation and have been subsequently released to the wild. Fabulous creatures. It was a highlight of our holiday. Here is my gallery of "the children of the forest". The last nine photos are of the baby.
" I do not have hairy armpits like you!"
"Bet you can't do this with your legs!"
"You can only find me hanging out
in my natural habitat in Borneo and
Sumatra"
"Tarzan was never as good as us!"
"I eat fruit and leaves gathered from rain forest
trees. Sometimes I eat eat bark, insects and,
on rare occasions, meat"
" You humans are great apes like us. You share
94.6% of your genetic make up with us"
"That is why we are called
orangutans. It is Malay for
'person of the forest'
"Hang on a sec, just need to stretch
the legs"
"We travel, eat and sleep in the forest canopy
and spend 95% of our time in the trees"
"Hmm! Where's that branch?"
"Studies have shown that we probably diverged
from the human lineage between approximately 12
and 15 million years ago"
"If I had a Mum she would be with
me now teaching me all I need to
know. My Dad is somewhere but
he's not very good at childcare"
"I can use my hands like my feet
and my feet like my hands which
makes me super agile"
"I also know which branches will
hold my weight and which won't"
"It's very rare but we do fall sometimes"
"We can basically do anything: hang from branches
or stand on top of them with our limbs in any direction
and each limb can be doing something completely
different to the others"
"If I wanted I could scratch my ear with my foot!"
"We are the only red apes and in the sun we
positively glow!"
"Ablaze in the trees"
"I am the wild, hairy girl from Borneo!"
"These trees are perfectly positioned for a good
stretch"
"Now for a good old think"
"Hello. My name is Ten Ten and I am 1 year old"
"I was taken away from my mummy to be
someone's pet. I miss her so much and I
am very angry with the human who took
me away"
"She would have stayed with me for 10 years
and taught me everything I need to know"
"But this ranger is very kind, only he
isn't very hairy!"
"They say there are only about 7,000 of us left in
the wild"
"We are in danger of extinction mostly because
of logging, conversion of our forests into palm
oil plantations and timber estates, mining
and clearing forests for settlements in Borneo
and Sumatra"
"You humans are very selfish neighbours"
"But there are lots of humans who help us"
"Please come and see me. You'll have
to pay but your money will help run this
sanctuary"
