May 3 - Today take the 20-minute walk south to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center (ORC). This is where orangutans found injured or incapacitated in some way elsewhere in Sabah are taken to bring back to health and eventually released back into the wild.
We go to be at the jungle viewing platform by 10:00, which is the feeding time for orangutans. They are free to eat here or forage for themselves in the jungle. The morsels put out are bland, including cabbage and bananas, to encourage them to look for food elsewhere.
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One orangutan comes for the morning feeding, a large male who I’m told is about 10 years old. He is very circumspect, getting to the platform quickly and turning his back within seconds so as to not see the crowd.
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After this, we go to the nursery, another feeding area that is a bit like a playground for the animals, next to a glass-fronted building where everyone can watch without intruding so much visually.
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There are, at any one time, between two and six orangutans here, mostly young. But there are about 20-30 pig-tailed macaques of all ages. For the most part, they defer to the orangutans, but the differences in behavior between the two species are stark. The orangutans are slow to get food, and gentle as they interact. The macaques are in a frenzy, threatening those lower on the social ladder when necessary to secure more food options. The only positive interaction I see is between mother macaques and their infants.
There is one orangutan that sits at the corner of the building, on two legs, leaning against the wall. Every once in a while he/she looks around the corner where the staff is watching the group and taking notes.
I see one of the staff members later and ask about it. She says that the orangutan in question is relatively young and new to the facility. She doesn’t like to interact with the other orangutans and stands at the corner because from there she can see when they open her cage after feeding. She prefers to be in the cage rather than outside. The staff member says that this happens often, that a new orangutan does not take well to socializing with others and also does not feel much for going into the jungle either.
In general, orangutans are not nearly as social as, for example, African mountain gorillas. The latter form tight groups and move together from place to place. Orangutans, however, do not organize as groups (though sometimes nest within sight of each other). Adult males may go out completely on their own.
From here we move on to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center (BSBCC), just across the road. Like the ORC, it is for sun bears found trapped or injured, nurse them to health, and eventually release them again into the wild.
There are currently 42 bears in the center. The visitor’s center has plenty of information on them, plus a video featuring Judi Dench visiting BSBCC.
There is a large area where the sun bears can roam around. When we get there, one comes wandering through the undergrowth, climbs a tree, and goes to sleep.
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From here the search for food. There isn’t much, only a café down the road, expensive with almost nothing on the menu available. Return to the ORC for the afternoon feeding at 15:00, since our tickets are good for the whole day.
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As we will not do a night walk tonight, Odette and I go out on our own around the rooms at our B&B.
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