Ting San
Ting San was brought to the centre in February 2007 after her mother was believed to have been shot. She was looked after by staff that acted as her substitute mother and is now cared for by a local man called Hilary.
Rescued: baby Ting San sleeps peacefully in her new home
I was fortunate to be one of the groups of volunteers in February 2007 to meet Ting San, she had arrived at Matang Wildlife Centre the day before we arrived. She was from the start an independent young lady, always knowing what she wanted and invariably nearly always getting it. She was quite small and after having been wormed and given a good diet introduced came on leaps and bounds. I was fortunate to spend that month watching her getting used to her new home and getting some security back in her life
Enjoying Dragon Fruit:
When I returned in July, I was amazed how much she had grown and how confident she was, it was clear that she was ready to start her training towards rehabilitation into the forest. My husband Gareth and I were very fortunate to be involved in the first steps that she took in the forest. In the wild orangutans stay with the mother for up to 5 years so it was always going to be difficult with Ting San.
Now she is taken daily to the feeding platform and is now used to the area where hopefully one day she will return as a semi-wild orangutan and receive any extra food she may need. She learnt very quickly how to find fruits in the forest and also how to break open a termite mound and eat its contents. She was also starting to learn how to fold leaves over in order to make a nest, As the weeks went by her confidence grew so much that she was happy to venture away from the security of the platform and go deeper into the forest, I know that she will one day make it back to living in the forest.
Learning to climb:
Read more about Ting San’s story here
When I returned ,I had two priorities, the first to see the progress of the bear project and the second to see Ting San , the young orangutan with whom I had spent last summer with. Both were great, the cages for the night dens had been erected and were just awaiting a roof but otherwise progress had been good and was almost finished, hopefully within the next two weeks the 4 sunbears would have a new home, the bears looked well and leo and I fed them live grubs, the two females corine and situ ate them readily where as bernie and jo the two males were more cautious, feeding these bears a more natural diet is the way forward to the first steps towards their rehabilitation.
Ting San was calm and obviously very happy with her new mentor, a local man named hillary, My work with her rehabilitation into the forest last year was rewarded with a great deal of affection, she clearly remembered me and kept herself firmly by my side arms and legs attached to me so that I could not escape, as much as I was touched by this visible sign of affection I am also aware that this contact is not what she needs as her future lays in the forest and not with human contact so she was after a very touching reunion encouraged to leave me and return to the trees, which she did without any stress.It was a vey emotional aftenoon all round as not only did I have the love of this amazing animal but I was also priviledged to go into the forest with Doris a 8 year old female orangutan who has just started her long journey back to the forest. She leaves her enclosure at the centre daily and is taken along the boardwalk (constructed by volunteers) up to the platforms where once she had settled into her surroundings I videoed her confident enough to leave her keepers side and swing along the ropes through the trees she also was quite happy to then climb back down a tree get her breath back and then start again, having only ever seen doris in her cage surrounding it was a wonderful sight to see her in the forest where she belongs. This now means that the rehabilitation programme has well and truly started at Matang Wildlife Centre.
Ting San and Mamu
Ting san continues to do well with her forest training, her keepers Hillary and Mr Juggah making sure that she goes into the forest daily.
Hillary clmbs 50-60 ft up trees to encourage her to stay in the trees instead of coming down to the platform he is also able to show her how to make a nest. Hillary has years of experience in Orangutan rehabilitation and he is trying to get Tingsan to want to be in the trees more than she wants to interact with people, so access is now limited to only those that know her (lucky for me I am one of them) consequently she is now getting to the stage where she no longer reaches out to play with people when she sees them and is more interested in looking up and climbing. This is a major step in her rehabilitation as being in the trees should always be her preference. She continues to get on well with Mamu and it is touching to see the affection developing between them, it is not all swinging around and play but many tender moments are being shared which will stand them well for when they are in the forest together.
On the 13th February Mamu had her first day in the forest, Hillary has developed a relationship with her that enabled him to transport her into the forest in a cage, she is still unsure about being held, so rather than stress her out this was the way she was taken up, she enjoyed herself, and her and Ting san had an amazing day, it was also very easy to bring her back down when she was tired As the weekend was upon us and Hillary was not working the decision was made for me to spend the weekend in her cage getting her used to the fact that we can be trusted and are not going to harm her, but there is a very fine line between building enough trust to be able to manage her i.e. carry or lead her into the forest and keeping her wild enough so as not to interfere with her rehabilitation., the hope is that very soon she will let us take her to the forest like we do Ting san.
We have two completely different Orangutans here, one that has been used to too much human contact and the other wild born and used to no contact, hopefully the rehabilitation process will work for both of them Monday morning was exciting as Mamu was so confident she allowed Hillary to take her by the hand and lead her to the forest and by the time it was time to go home she was happy for Mr Juggar to carry her, this now means that her trips to the forest are without any stress.
While in the forest Ting san and Mamu get on very well spending a lot of time together in the trees, Mamu is far advanced of Tingsan having spent the first two years of her life with her mother in the forest, she has a much better knowledge of how to climb and what fruit and leaves to eat , it is hoped that she may have learnt nest building skills from her mother and that between her and Hillary she can teach Ting san.
Having spent a good part of last year being involved with Ting san’s introduction to the forest I always wished that she could have the company of another young orangutan so it is with the greatest pleasure that I now watch them together playing in the trees, it was interesting to see Ting san’s reaction to a torrential downpour of rain, she has always hated getting wet and as always asked to be taken back to the comfort of her cage, as Mamu had no problem with the rain and stayed in the trees Ting san had no choice but to remain in the rain, as soon as Ting san realised she was staying in the forest whatever the weather she returned to the trees to join Mamu. This was very interesting to watch (even though I was by now soaking wet) and shows me how much she has changed over the last few months and how much influence Mamu’s presence is having on her.
Both Ting san and Mamu’s quality of life is now enriched and as natural as can be while they are forest training.
