Interesting facts on Orang Utans

Orang Utan- the red ape that are cute and adorable and one of the most threatened species in Borneo. Without the help of the public, these Orang utans will soon go extinct and orang utans are only found in Borneo and Sumatra.





















Photos taken from Dr Sen Nathan, Chief Veterinarian from Sabah Wildlife Department

Last Friday my coursemates and I were given a talk by an outstanding lady who is an expert in Orang Utan called Dr. Isabelle. She comes from France Here are a few interesting facts i got from her really interesting talk that even i knew nothing about:

1) did you know orang utans can t swim.Unlike the proboscis monkeys, Orang utans are afraid of water and will drown if placed in water.

2) A survey done in Major shopping malls in Sabah Shows that most people know almost nothing about Orang Utan.Apparently a lot of people don t even know how an Orang utan looks like..

3) the presence of a big developed male orang utan with the side cheeks inhibits the development of other males to form the side cheeks as well.In the zoo it was observed that the male orang utan only developed his side cheek when the big developed male orang utan moved away to another zoo.

4) People should not keep baby orang utans as pets as these pets will end up in the zoo in cages for the rest of his life. That is no way for an orang utan to live.Caged orangutans ( for lng periods) gets depressed and most of the times go mad. Why they end up in zoos? This is because orang utans are naturally very Curious and looks to make havoc in your house.They like to dismantle stuff as they are really curious.So if you keep an orang utan as a pet it will one day cause tons of mess and havoc in your house till you have to give it away.

5) Baby orang utans cling to their mothers very tightly because they live high up and the mother will swing with the baby clinging to her.If the baby does not have clinging ability, he will fall to the ground and die. Therefore when we humans hold a baby orang utan he will hug us very tightly and make our heart melt.

6) In Sepilok rehabilitation centre, there is an adoption process for the orang utans where people can adopt the orang utan by paying for his welfare so he/she wont get extinct.

7) Orang Utans love to eat palm oil shoots as they are delicious. Some palm oil plantation owners get so angry they shoot at the orang utans causing orang utans to fear us. can we blame them for eating when huge areas of their natural habitat have been cleared and then planted with delicious palm oil shoots.

8) Although orang utans some of them are really huge.it is very hard to see an orang utan as they can hide very easily and can sense our presence.Therefore to see if there are orang utan present you must see the orang utan nest.

9) Orang utans are able to live in secondary forests like Deramakot( Forest Management Units for sustainable timber logging). however the behaviour of the orang utan will change showing that orang utans are able to adapt to its environment. Apparently secondary forests have more food for the orang utans compared to the primary forests as the fruiting cycle of the trees are faster. The male territoriality also adapt to its surroundings.

10) Orang utans have the ability to heal very fast especially for broken bones injury... i Do have some sad news..apparently some people in the Crocker Range eats the orang utan for medicine..i was so sad when i heard that.. I never knew People eat Orang utan..How can they bear..Orang utans are so adorable PLUS Theyre getting Extinct!!

The major threats to the Orang Utan are Genetic problems and Human orang utan conflicts ( agriculture especially).

Genetic problems are caused by the inbreeding effects due to habitat fragmentation. Inbreeding means incest among the orang utans due to small population size. The number of alleles also decrease. Most of this habitat islands have about 5o individuals and scientist estimate this population due to inbreeding that leads to loads of genetic caused diseases will cause this orang utans to become extinct in 5o -100 years. Only about 4 places in Sabah has a population size of more that 250.

One of the methods to overcome this is translocation from one habitat to another but Translocation is not as simple as it seems. Dr Isabelle used this example, Imagine if someone comes and kidnaps you ( say you come from Sabah) and places you in New York, United States of America, with no friends, no knowledge of the area, no money, nothing..so HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SURVIVE.For the ORANG UTAN monkey its the same thing..For the orang utan from small was raised to understand the area where he/she lives in, the places to avoid, where to find food, where to stay when there is a storm..motherly advice that would save him in times of peril..so if you translocate an orang utan from one place to another,IT WILL BE TRAUMATISING.

Currently in SAbah we have about 11000 orang utans and im proud to say that many people around the world and within Sabah are very concerned about orang utan but the awareness now is not enough. A lot of people still need to understand more and take action about the orang utan so we can save them from becoming extinct. we humans really have to find a balance between economic gain( which is important for our country) and our environment and nature conservation( cos withouth forest and wildlife we humans will not survive as well- even now due to heavy logging in Peninsular malaysia now they have water problems..I hope sabah never reaches that stage..its really worrying)

I hope i have helped to increase your knowledge about the orang utans and i had fun writing this blog as well. All the best. Stay tune for my next blog edition.

My Wonderful Trip To Uncle Tan's Wildlife camp

AWESOME!AWESOME!AWESOME!It was a trip i will never forget..Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp was TOTALLY an ideal Vacation especially for us STresseD out third year students..
We left UMS at approximately 8.30am by bus ( Our bus driver is real sweetie and friendly man- he even fed us sweets and fruits along the way and super helpful) passing Kundasang and Ranau.



Me posing with the mountain (Mount Kinabalu- the tallest mountain in South East Asia) and with my favourite couple Chan and Ho

WIth my busmates on the trip to Uncle Tans camp.

For those of you stopping at Kundasang be forwarned that the prices of the fruits and some vegetables are the same as KK and some are even more expensive..However most of the stuff like the carrots are really fresh..On the way home i bought tons of carrots and brocoli..
We arrived at the Batuh Puteh Jetty at roughly 6pm (almost ten hours journey from UMS)..YEah we were all so Excited..Lan , the manager of Uncle Tan's was there to greet us with the other guides.. we were divided into groups of ten and mine was Group No3..
Group No 3 is a Super Best Group..hehehehe...For me la..We had great personality people like Wai Tze, Wai Tze's bf, HO, Thilip, Fang She, Shia Leng, Shing Yen, Ah Mun, Chan and me






our group picture at the Batuh Puteh jetty

We took off from Batuh Puteh and had an evening safari to the Campsite..The view was totally great and the feel of the wind blowing through your hair was really relaxing..

WEEE>>It was so much fun.................................


We arrived at the camp at about 7pm and was brought to our rooms..hehehehe..Our " Chalets" were really unique...It was built like the cage where you put Chicken or monkeys..Lol..It was quite an experience..But It was fun..Chan and I shared a mattress..There were 6 of us in the Chalet cum hut..

We had to place the mattress on the floor and sleep on it.Blankets are provided as well.

Posing at our home for the next three days and two nights.P.s we were all glad that the toilet is quite good and its condition is well taken care off.TOILET is important..Lol..I remember the scientific trip to Paitan..The toilet was so primitive that i was so glad to see a proper toilet when i came home:)

The food served was pretty good- fresh and delicious. Then we had another briefing by Lan..Lan is this really talented guy.He started working at Uncle Tan's at the age of 17 starting of as a cleaner then working his way up to be assistant cook, cook and then finally manager of Uncle Tan's Wildlife Campsite.. He is really caring about our welfare. He told us about the Kinabatangan and what we can see there..I believe what impressed EVeryone is he spouting scientific names of all the animals found within the Kinabatangan forest..Scientific names REALLY boggles The mind..Half the time most of us were wondering what wildlife he was talking about but when he showed us the pics we were like oooo...hahahaha..i guess we conservation bio students will FAinT if we have to memorize all the species names in the world...
My group went jungle trekking in the night for the first day..We were all dressed with extreme protection except our guide and Thilip who wore shorts..The Leech socks and long pants and long sleeve shirts + tons of insect repellent...I dono why the insects were not repelled?i still got mosquitoe bites...sob...Our guide was Remy..Remy looks really Young and a lot of the gals within Biopem like to see him cos he has a cute face. He is mixed Bajau and Filipino..quite a nice and friendly guy..a bit cheeky too..i think if i want a brother ill choose someone like him..Lol..He showed us tons of stuff:

The Milipede that emits an almond smell..Remy rubbed it and we could smell the odour..this milipede was everywhere on the trees..

THe frog- cant remember its name..actually we saw tons of frogs that day..some are so cute..just the size of your finger or even smaller.

The Kingfisher sleeping on the tree.even when we flash our torchlights he does not fly away

The Black Scorpion.Remy taught us the proper way of holding the Scorpion.IM proud TO say that I held this scorpion TOO..This scorpion is actually venomous and can sting you..so you must hold him from below so he will think your hand is a piece of wood..However if you approach him from above he will sting you..I held him for about 30s to 1 minute..it was exhilarating..

We were walking and wading through muddy water all the way up to our thighs..Hehehe..we trekked till about 12 midnight..we saw many other creatures like spiders, worms and frogs..We waded through knee high mud and water untill at the end we did not care what we went through anymore..hehehehe..it started off with eeww..i dont want get wet to,...weee..this is fun..lets play in mud somemore..Lol..

we washed up and went to sleep Immediately.Tired after the long journey..
We had many boat safaris and for most of us that was the highlight..The morning safari was real nice and we can watch tons of monkeys and other wildlife like the gibbon, the proboscis monkey, long tail macaques, pygmy tailed monkey, egrets, eagles, swiflets, hornbills, monitor lizards, crocodiles,half eaten bearded pig, storm storks and green tea leaf lizard..Some of this wildlife are hard to see as they blended into the surroundings so well..we learnt in my course that this is part of their defense for comouflage..THE presence of so many top predators shows that this area is a complete ecosystem

The scenery at the Evening safari..so beautiful..

Spot the Proboscis Monkeys..We saw tons of them on the trees especially The Ficus tree which they love to eat the figs and fruits..we saw female proboscis monkeys with their children and they were so cute.Proboscis monkeys live in a haremlike order, where there is a handsome male proboscis monkey and his harem of females and babies..They are really playful and love to swing from branch to branch..

The second smallest frog in the world..Its so cute.

This juvenile crocodile was so near to us..we were just a few hundred centimeter away..The croc was staring at us..we were staring at him/her..After a while of looking, I started to get a bit scared that he will jump onto our boat..although he is small but im sure he still has very VERY Sharp Teeth..felt relieved when we left..hehehehe..i was talking to Shia Leng and she agreed with me 2..she also felt the same way..P.s - we also saw loads of tiger prawns..we learnt in Anna WOngs or was it Zulhazman's class that the presence of tiger prawns indicates the presence of crocodile..this tiger prawns live in symbiosis with crocs..after the croc eats the animals it captures( Its main staple is bearded pig, and monkeys) , the tiger prawns will have a feast on the remains of the eaten animals cos the croc is a messy eater so loads of scraps.

Can you see the eagle on top of the tree..?The majestic eagle..I borrowed Ah Mun's Binoculars and saw this beautiful predator..The eagle was so beautiful.it had brown feathers and orange/yellow beak.it ws nice and plump too..a really cute and adorable creature..

another evening scenery of the Kinabatangan river. A 560km2 river and home to many endangered an endemic species.It s just so rich with Biodiversity.The Sabah government has gazetted this area as a protected wildlife sanctuary but there still is a lot to be done to save the wildlife within.

We also saw many long tailed macaques..They really came so close to us..this two were posing for us and also were scratching each others back..Wildlife viewing for yourself is far exciting and far more meaning ful then if you see it for your self..

a picture of the cricket frog..

My group won the Uncle Tans T shirt Prize for scoring the most points by identifying species..Chiayo..T shirt tshirt Tshirt...hehehhee

The Kingfisher sleeping on tree.

On the morning safari we saw this half eaten bearded pig.It was eaten by the crocodile.Not within this picture, we could see the trail of struggle the bearded pig left when the croc attacked it..It was dragged a fair distance before it was eaten.before i studied my course i would feel extremely angry at the crocodile but now i understand that predators are there for a reason and the ecosystem with no predators are an unhealthy ecosystem.Predators also acts as a population control.

This is the bearded pig that comes to the Uncle Tans campsite..Its very cute to see..apparently this pig is a regular visitor to the camp and they named her Kum Kum..She also has three baby pigs that are a mini version of her.

With Remy our guide and most of the girls from Group 3..I see Remy was playfully trying to kill me..hehehe..

OUr group photo of all 5 groups that went on this trip from my course.Those in the green shirts are our guides from Uncle Tans wildlife camp. Indeed it was an incredible trip and I sincerely thank Mr Eugene Tan for giving us this free Trip.For those of you interested to go on this wonderful vacation you can check out the Uncle Tan's website at www.uncletan.com.

The couple in the front are tourists from Australia.i really had fun.Currently im back to uni and yesterday we had a very interesting talk on the Orang Utan..Ill probrably talk onn that next.I hope you had fun reading my blog.All the best everyone and Id love to hear your comments on my blog.Take care and Muaks..:)