Those who have been volunteers at Matang in the past will, of course, know the sun bears well. Four of the bears, Bernie, Corrine, Situ and Jo, used to live in the quarantine area and were moved into a large, outdoor area in January 08. Videos of the sun bears’ first steps into their new space can be viewed on our website. Since these bears moved, we have employed our volunteers to carry out behavioural monitoring of all the sun bears here. Matang is attempting to rehabilitate its sun bears, which involves training them out of unnatural behaviours, such as stereotypy, and trying to illicit and increase natural behaviours, such as climbing, breaking into logs and rotting wood, and foraging. We have been making changes to their enrichment, husbandry routine and feeding schedule, all the while monitoring their behaviour, to see if we are succeeding in changing and improving their behaviour. Our record climber thus far is Situ, who climbs now to 13.5m on a daily basis. We are slowly increasing the height at which food is hung to tempt the bears ever higher.



In the eight months that we have been able to monitor the bears, we have seen great improvements in their behaviour. All are comfortable climbers, with Situ excelling, all enjoy a meal of insects, an idea that visually repelled some of them when first introduced, and overall, the frequency of foraging has increased and stereotypy has decreased. Our bears also frequently display mating behaviour, culminating in successful pregnancy. We still have a long way to go, but are greatly encouraged by our initial data. It appears possible to teach sun bears natural behaviour, or more simply present the means to allow them to express what does, indeed, come naturally. It is also possible to decrease stereotypic frequency – our next challenge is to see if we can eliminate it. Our volunteers will continue to help us in this challenging mission.
The prize for Most Improved Bear is, at this stage, definitely awarded to Jo. When first moved to the outdoor enclosure, Jo refused to leave the night den area and face the open air for a number of weeks. She then progressed to venturing out for a day, but then seeking the comfort of the night den for the following two or three. She was very meek, lacked confidence and would steer well clear of the other three bears. Now, Jo is as keen to enter the outdoor enclosure as any other bear. She climbs with ease, forages for most of the day and shows great enthusiasm for tearing apart any wood in her presence – even iron wood platforms do not withstand her efforts. She has also forged a great relationship with Bernie. It is quite common to see these two bears play fighting and rolling around with each other, often continually throughout the day. This does not seem to be tied to mating specifically, as copulation attempts are rarely seen during their interaction. Sun bears are solitary animals in the wild, but here we can see that in the right conditions, individuals can gain great enjoyment from each other’s company. It really is a joy to watch them together, particularly in relation to Jo’s demeanour one year ago.

You can see a short video of Jo and Bernie in their night den on our website homepage clicking on the video link www.orangutanproject.com

Labels: Borneo, matang, rehabilitation, sunbears

Our two young orangutan, Ting San and Mamu, continued to go out most days as a pair for their jungle training at our nearby feeding platforms with two of our rehabilitation officers Hillary and Jugah. Mamu has practically doubled in bodyweight since our orangutan expert recommended separating her from her companions in her enclosure and has improved tremendously.

Though still young, Mamu continually impresses us all with her degree of jungle expertise, and serious rehab has proven to be the best thing to ever happen to Ting San.



Unless the weather is particularly bad the two of them will generally stay out all day in the surrounding forest generally coming back in around 4 or 5 in the early evening; Mamu’s affinity for the tree tops is successfully rubbing off on Ting San and she now spends less and less time seeking out human contact at ground level and emulating Mamu’s superior climbing technique in the canopy.

Things are extremely positive for the both of them.

Labels: Borneo, borneo orangutan, borneo orangutans, great orangutan project, orang utan, orangutan volunteer, Orangutans and Rehabilitation, volunteer with orangutans

Our beloved Aman featured in the London newspaper, The Metro, today showing the world what fantastic progress he is making. Before his cataract operation in May last year Aman was blind but his eyesight is now fully restored and he's making the most of it...

"Meet Aman, king of the swingers and – thanks to a pioneering eye operation – a lean, mean love machine. The 20-year-old orangutan is feeling like a new ape after living in darkness for half his life. He's lost 10kg, toned up and chilled out – all of which makes him quite a catch in ape circles....." Read the full story on the Metro Online: Orangutan's got the look of Love

Or click here to find out more about Aman

Labels: Borneo, great orangutan project, Malaysia, orang-utan, orangutan volunteer

More updates on the sun bears progress by current volunteer Heather:

Monday 4th February

The time had arrived to let the bears out into their new enclosure, the decision was made to allow the less dominant bears Corrine and Jo out first to try and lessen territorial disputes. Food was placed on the outside ladders to tempt them down.

However only Corrine ventured out as Jo was still too nervous. Corrine walked around eating and licking up the honey, she spent about 5 minutes out not venturing very far but certainly not pacing and quite at ease. Her entry back into the dens was through Jo’s door and there was a moment of concern when for the first time the two bears met. Fortunately, there was not a sound they acted as if they had been together all their lives. Although Jo never made it outside a big step had been made in introducing them to each other.

Next Bernie was let out. He was still on his own as Situ had not yet been moved. He is the dominant male and when Corrine approached him there was a fight which probably sounded worse than it was, but thankfully there were no injuries. After what seemed a long time, but in fact was only a few minutes, the two bears were exploring the enclosure once again as if they had always been together. It was very emotional to see them finally outside.

I watched them wondering to myself what they were thinking and whether they were enjoying the moment as much as myself and all the volunteers that were watching them.

On Tuesday Sarawak Forestry resident rehabilitation officer, John Colam, successfully darted Situ and with the help of volunteer Belle, who is a veterinary nurse, and she was moved safely to her new den.

Bernie has been let into the outdoor enclosure to allow us access to their night den and to give Situ time to recover peacefully. The whole procedure of moving these bears to their new home has been amazing, better than could ever of been expected. It was done quietly and professionally with very little stress involved. I feel it was a very touching moment for everybody to witness these bears have their first taste of freedom and I know that all previous volunteers and staff will be thrilled that everything has gone well.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this possible.

We managed to catch everything on video. Visit our YouTube channel if you can't see them

Knocking out the Sun bears

Sun bear recovery

Sun bears see the sun

Heather

Labels: Borneo, conservation, Malaysia, orangutan, sunbears rehabilation, volunteer, volunteer with orangutans

It’s only a quick visit to the tree but it is her first – this is massive progress for an orangutan her age and it’s only her 3^rd day of rehabilitation and visiting the jungle. We were expecting it to be a month before she got this far.

To start off with we had trouble getting Doris to let go of me so the two other keepers, Hilary and Jugah, moved to the second feeding platform to tempt her with coconut…but this is quickly spotted by Ting San.

After an hour of me ignoring her and Jugah calling her we had a break through and Doris touched her first tree. After this Hilary prepared some more bait so we could take this into the trees ourselves. After watching me up a tree for a long time and thinking about it she watches Hilary go up too and then amazingly she climbs a series of ropes up into her first tree and is high off the ground.

She comes back down for reassurance and although only a short visit this progress is huge.

Keep your eye for glimpses of Ting San whose happily plays whilst we tempt Doris.

Watch the videos here:

Or visit our Orangutan Project Channel on YouTube

Leo

Labels: Borneo, great orangutan project, Malaysia, orang utan, Orangutans and Rehabilitation, volunteer