Matang has one less resident after we felt the effects of being situated within the rainforests of Borneo. A 13 foot reticulated python found its way into the pigtail macaque enclosure on the animal trail and found within a rather tempting meal. It's very likely that this snake, a protected species, is one of the very animals that Matang Wildlife Centre had released into the national park before.



It seemed strange that the python was able to catch the monkey, as if the monkey had stayed at the top of its cage it would not have been in reach. However, the python was presenting lacerations to its back, suggesting that the monkey attacked the snake and unfortunately then found itself in range of the snake's jaws. The python was discovered during morning husbandry - a keeper went to feed the macaque, and instead found a rather large snake in the cage. Thin enough to enter the cage initially, after consuming the monkey the python found itself too large to fit back through the bars and became captive as a consequence.



Keepers here were able to catch the snake with little problem. Its energies were obviously mostly devoted to digesting the huge meal. The python was relocated to an adjacent forested area and released. While it was obviously a shame for the monkey, it was a great opportunity to see nature in action, and a stark reminder that we do indeed work in a jungle!

Labels: husbandry, jungle, kubah national park, matang, matang wildlife centre, python, sarawak

During the first three weeks that Chiam was out in the national park, keepers only saw her once as she came to investigate Ting San's rehabilitation training. Though they continued to call for her and place food at feeding platforms twice a day, it seems Chiam was enjoying herself too much to be concerned with coming back when called for easy food. Indeed, during her first 4 hours out, Chiam built 4 nests, which is certainly in excess of what's required! Orangutan will always build a nest for sleeping, and will commonly make one day nest to take a rest from foraging, but four in one afternoon is certainly not seen. It seemed Chiam was simply feeling the joy of the trees once again. However, recently Chiam returned to the feeding platform recently built on the trail to the ranger station.



She came down in response to keepers calling for her, as they have been doing each day twice daily. The aim of this was to let Chiam know that there would always be someone in the jungle to feed her, should she require extra food. This has obviously worked, Chiam had known where the keepers were going to be at what time and responded to their call.



Both her and the baby appear to be in great health and obviously enjoying their time in the trees. It is wonderful to know how much Chiam's son will now be learning about his natural environment, and we can only imagine how fast he will pick up natural survival skills such as nest building and foraging with Chiam as his teacher.



We hope that this will be the first of many occasions that Chiam returns to our feeding platforms for food.

Labels: feeding platform, great orangutan project, matang wildlife centre, orangutan, orangutan baby, orangutan mother, orangutan release

For those who have not met him yet, Aman is our large dominant male at Matang Wildlife Centre

In March 09, two of our volunteers presented us with the kind gift of a 200m roll of 2inch rope. This thick, industrial strength rope is perfect for orang-utan, and with it we were able to rope Aman’s outdoor enclosure. The smaller ropes that used to hang there have slowly been dismantled by Aman over the months, which has been great enrichment for him as orang-utans do love to destroy things, but has meant his enclosure has been devoid of rope for a while.



After roping his enclosure, Aman systematically worked his way around the area, testing each length of the new rope, and this initial investigation was caught on film and is available for viewing on our website. It obviously had no trouble supporting his weight, and on first test run it appears to have no obvious weak points. Orangutans will commonly check new structures, or new additions to structures, for any weaknesses or points that can be dismantled. The rope survived its first afternoon with Aman – let’s hope it withstands his might for many more months!



With kind thanks to Eric McCallum and Robin Smith for the gift of the rope.

Labels: Male orangutan, matang wildlife centre, orang-utan, orangutan, orangutan volunteer

Chiam and Ghanti
Born on Feb 3rd 09, Chiam and Ghanti’s boys are now 3 and a half months old. It is truly fascinating to watch the differences in the approach to motherhood between the two apes. Ghanti is a first time mother, and is evidently cautious, wary and highly attentive to her baby. Whenever he makes the faintest of squeaks, she gives him her full attention, checks over every angle of him, runs her lips over his body as comfort as well as investigation, and keeps the baby close to her. She remains more reserved, and though has been revisiting the outside world, will mostly remain on high in nest or hammock, away from the distractions of staff and tourists and devoting attention to her baby.




Chiam is a different story. She is a second time mother, and perfectly aware that parenting is nothing to stress over. When watching her behaviour, you would not know she had a baby clinging to her unless you caught sight of him. When Chiam’s baby squeaks or begins to cry, she moves it further out of ear shot, generally onto her back. As a result, Chiam’s baby is showing more independence than Ghanti’s. Our May volunteers saw Chiam’s boy climbing to the top of the night dens, solo – with Chiam forming a carefully placed safety net below his every move. She is certainly also a devoted mother, as all female orang-utan are, and volunteers also saw her create something of a mobile with branches and leaves in her enclosure and hang it above her baby’s head, moving it to and fro with her baby thoroughly entertained below.


Separated for the first couple of months to allow the females to settle stress-free into motherhood, Chiam and Ghanti have recently been reintroduced to each other. They have shown great interest in each other’s babies, and there has definitely been a sense of showing off each son to the other mum. They each seem extremely pleased and proud, with both themselves and each other. Recently, Chiam was seen encouraging her baby to climb - she was placing his hands on a rope above her head and supporting his weight, lifting him up and assisting his holds. A few minutes later, Ghanti, who had obviously been watching this lesson closely, followed suit. She took up Chiam’s position and was placing her baby’s hands on the rope. Her baby was much more reluctant to explore the area away from his mother’s body, but this example of learning and imitation through observation was truly fascinating.

Labels: great orangutan project, matang wildlife centre, orang-utan, orangutan, orangutan baby

In August last year, a macaque was born at Matang and has been a firm favourite with volunteers since. Since March 09, this little male has become strong enough to demolish chicken wire, yet still remains small enough to fit through the stronger steel bars of his cage. He has enjoyed great enrichment exploring the neighbouring cages, and stealing any items that are light enough for him to pick up. Here are some photos of him mid-exploration for your viewing pleasure.

Labels: baby macaque, matang wildlife centre, Orangutans and Rehabilitation

After being found on the road side, a slow loris was surrendered to Matang in May 09. These incredibly cute small mammals are primates, with opposable thumbs utilised for clinging tightly onto branches. As their name suggests, they are slow and steady locomotors. They dwell in the tree tops, and like the orangutan employ a three-to-one climbing technique - three limbs cling to branches at all times while one will locate the next step to be made. This makes for extremely safe and secure locomotion through the 40m+ canopy of Borneo.



These pictures show the animal emerging from its carry case - it lived up to its name and appeared in no rush to return to the trees. It then ambled through the undergrowth before vanishing from sight into Kubah National Park.

Labels: matang, matang wildlife centre, slow loris

On 3rd May 2009 keepers at Matang discovered two new born porcupine at the enclosure. In April 2008, we welcomed a new porcupine into the existing population and he's clearly been doing a good job, with one infant born last year and now two more! There are two adult females currently at Matang and each of them gave birth to one young - it seems the porcupine followed the example of Chiam and Ghanti and sychronised their births!



Porcupine are born without their quills (luckily for their mums), but they soon develop these robust spines as a defense against potential predators. These photos were taken on the day they were born inside the nights dens of the enclosure, so you can see the quills are yet to form.

Labels: matang wildlife centre, porcupine

We interviewed Leo Biddle, the Borneo manager at WOX’s Great Orangutan Project in Sarawak and how the new orangutan moms and tots are getting on.





So Leo you must be very proud, are the babies healthy?

48 hours from birth there are no complications so far. It is everything we hoped for. Babies are not separate from their moms and remain clung on to their mothers 24/7 as you would expect, but babies support their own weight. They don’t cry, they do make some noises. Also did you know that both baby orangutan came out blonde. They will go deeper orange as they get older, but for now we have blonde baby orangutans!

How are the orangutan mothers coping with motherhood?



Gante (one of the mother orangutans) and baby nearly the entire time have been in guni sacks. She carries the sacks around with her constantly, possibly using them to keep warm. Gante is not as social as Chiam (the other lucky mom) so stays hidden in sacks. They are both well and healthy. They are not eating much but we did expect this. We have been given them a wide selection of foods to choose from - an open buffet for our precious moms. (Chiam is also mother to Mamu who is also at our centre and going to school for jungle training).

What is the reaction if any from other orangutans?

Doris (our teenage orangutan) sees the team and keepers going in and out of the maternity enclosures and gets very jealous almost saying “hey there I want some attention!” (very typical of Doris).

Orangutans from the start were very aware that babies were coming. You could tell by their body language. On the day of birth they could smell the afterbirth. Because we require more space for the moms we have moved the orangutans around. We do what we can in limited space. So other orangutans are getting a bit frustrated.

George, the father of the two baby boys, is highly protective. Other than me and members of the WOX team, when people he doesn’t know pass by, he starts barking and getting angry. “Back off my babies boys!”. I myself growl at people wanting to see babies also…my own paternal instincts kicking in.

How do you create a post-natal environment for the benefit of the orangutan moms and orangutan babies?

We increased warmth to the enclosures with more guni sacks, increase leaves, blankets so the orangutan moms can build nests. The idea is by keeping moms warm we keep orangutan babies warm. We keep quiet. We have increased food supply and a good selection of foods for our moms. They seem to take to the leafy greens so we have more of that. Gante and Chiam have a choice of night dens and enclosures and can move freely between them. We do what we can to keep them happy. And we constantly monitor them. The moms seem very responsible.

You personally have spent so much time with your “orangutan ladies”, how do you feel?

I don’t know if I should say this, but I’m really paranoid. Infant mortality rates are high in any centre. It’s a great concern in the world of orangutan conservation. New borns are weak and susceptible to diseases. So we are going all out to make this work. You have my all.


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Thanks to Leo, Tasha, Alvin, Mazrul, Hilary and the rest of the WOX team and SFC team working round the clock to keep our new moms and babies happy and healthy. It’s challenging times in Borneo but a great privilege to be part of the miracle of a synchronised birth of two baby orangutans on the same day at the same centre.

So there you have it orangutan people, so now get off the blog and get on a plane to Borneo. Be part of the experience and join us on the Sarawak Orangutan Volunteer Programme during the next months or take advantage of our Orangutan Baby Special – 2 week volunteer programmes for May and June 2008.

It’s our way of connecting you with baby orangutans. This moment is extremely rare. To be in the same vicinity of baby orangutans is magic. Packed with emotions, these next few months will require people with passion and belief that orangutans will make it through. We have increased the orangutan population by a tiny fraction, but it’s on the way up and you, the volunteer community help us make this happen.

On the Orangutan Baby Special – you will volunteer at Matang Wildlife Centre in Sarawak Malaysia Borneo and you will also be working on improving the lives of resident animals such as sunbears, crocodiles, etc and witness the challenges our conservation team face keeping new born baby orangutans healthy.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO TOUCHING OR CARRYING OF ANY ORANGUTANS. PLEASE RESPECT THE MOTHERS FEELINGS AND THE ALPHA MALE FATHER, GEORGE WHO, LIKE ANY PROUD DAD, WILL BE VERY IRRATE IF YOU TOUCH HIS BABY BOYS. WE ASK FOR PASSION WITH RESPONSIBILITY. THANK YOU.

Labels: baby, baby rehabilitation, borneo orangutan, great orangutan project, matang wildlife centre, orang utan, orang-utan, orangutan, orangutan volunteer, volunteer with orangutans

We are ecstatic to report that today, both Chiam and Ghanti, adult orangutan females, gave birth to baby boys. Chiam's baby was noticed first as volunteers were about to start cleaning her night den in the morning, and Ghanti gave birth that lunch time. Both mothers and babies are doing really well and appear to have taken naturally to motherhood, which we expected of Chiam, a second-time mother, and is great to see from Ghanti, who has given birth for the first time.

It is quite incredible that both females gave birth on the same day - at least is will be easy to remember their birthday!

Labels: baby rehabilitation, borneo orangutan, matang wildlife centre, orangutan, Orangutans and Rehabilitation

New Years Day 2008

Well it may be the end of December and the end of the year; but it’s very much the start of the next stage of the great orangutan project’s endeavours at the Matang Wildlife and Rehabilitation Centre, as we enter phase two of our involvement here.

Before I can talk about what’s new I have to extend our thanks to everyone who made getting this far possible.

The November group of volunteers was Keith & Caroline’s last; I think that every volunteer and visitor that met them will know what an asset they were in assisting the centre to raise animal husbandry standards. They were also the custodians of the project on the ground for us and the face of WOX to our volunteers. In all things the effort and hours they contributed cannot be understated; without them successfully completing the infrastructural phase of the project we would not be able to begin our part in the rehabilitation of animals at MWC.
Thanks also to the Forestry dept, Matt, Wong, Lisa, James, Laurence and Heather for your invaluable help along the way.

Mostly though a tremendous thank you to each and every one of our past volunteers!
It is impossible for me to articulate how interminably grateful we are to you all.
This isn’t a job for any of us; it is an attempt to make a positive difference towards the conservation of endangered species, particularly the orangutan, within Borneo & that’s no small feat.
We undertake this challenge because we believe that there are people like us, who, wanting the same will give their time, money & sweat into making it happen.
There is not a single thing we have done, or will do, that could have been done without you.
Thank you is an understatement.

As for December……..
Well all of the new staffs are settling in very nicely.

One of WOX’s rehabilitation officers Hillary has been taking his charge, Ting San, out to the jungle feeding platforms every day for rehabilitation training and has begun to teach her how to make nests. He and I have begun an entirely natural diet for her (with the addition of milk) & we make up a nest for her in her night-den each evening to return to and familiarize herself with the feeling of sleeping amidst leaves.

We unsuccessfully tried this with our older females; but will need to be a little more inventive as they simply destroyed the ones we made for them.

We were both concerned that Mamu is a little underweight given that she is nearly 3 years old. Chiam stopped producing milk shortly after returning to the centre so we have decided to bottle feed milk formula to her and her daughter as Hillary feels this is the easiest way to start her lactating again and even if it fails it will be extra nutrition for Mamu.
Much easier said than done though as both Chiam and Ganti always try to steal whatever you are giving to Mamu; but we’ve managed to get milk to Mamu each day so far.

We’ve also recruited another experienced orangutan rehabilitator out of his recent retirement to fill the hole left by Hillary’s departure from Semenggoh (our sister sanctuary)

Our volunteer coordinator Alvin has been perhaps the busiest of us all helping me with doing all of the jobs we would normally rely on volunteers to undertake. After he’s fed, cleaned and medicated all of his charges; he’s out in the jungle looking for wild fruits and nesting materials. Then each afternoon we’ve been giving all of the animals their enrichment before preparing the clinic for the new WOX veterinarian.

(Thanks to Marcia from the last two groups for all of your enrichment ideas I’ve tried several & got the papier-mâché, forage mats & seaweed nests to work J You’ll be interested to know that the eldest female pig tail appeared to dominate on the feeds and that we can move/bribe them from one cage to another quite easily. Also the bears & binturong really loved the blood; which we spread around their enclosure or gave in ice blocks)

At the moment we are hiding all of the orangutan & bear feeds either in puzzles or distributed around their enclosures & high on the feeding platforms in order to amuse and make them work for their food; particularly Aman.
As soon as we have more volunteer hands on the ground again we’ll extend that to all of animals.

Alvin has also been helping me and the contractors with the new sun bear rehabilitation night dens; where the welding has been hampered a little by continual rain and recurrently failing electrical supply; but as I write this there is now only the roof left to go. And as Heather rightly said to me today, there are four bears that are going to have a very Happy New Year

A provisional & flexible release plan has been agreed for the deer, and most orangutan Chiam, Ganti, Doris & Mamu and volunteer work for the beginning of next year will be focused on making this happen.
The keepers, Alvin and I have been spending a long time traipsing around the deepest areas of Matang and Kubah & have selected a location that is far enough away from human habitations and the centre to consider suitable for releasing, feeding and monitoring Chiam.
Along with making ready for our new orange arrivals; the first of whom, a 17yr old male, is due in January.

Guillaume & I attended the Hornbill conference for conservation in Sarawak where Francis Gombek (forestry dept) & I presented our rehabilitation plan for all of the sun bears. We’ll put this up on the site for those that are interested in January along with video of their January transfer and the beginning of the rehabilitation training.

I spent four days over Christmas in the deep jungles of Batang Ai (the long term full wild release site for orangutan successfully rehabilitated at Matang) & received a wonderful present from one of the local Iban communities we work with; when they formally agreed with WOX to no longer hunt any animals for food, apart from the wild boar.

Mr Jugah (who many volunteers may know as Apai) also retired from the forestry department at the end of this year. Since he hand-reared Chiam, Ganti, Doris & most of the orangutans MWC have previously released; we felt that we needed his experience and animal relationships a little bit longer (At least until we have released & integrated Chiam & Ganti as he’s the only person who can safely handle them right now)
So WOX have made him an offer he can’t refuse and taken him on as our third rehabilitation officer. His job with us at the moment is to concentrate solely on Doris and throughout the next 6 months he’ll continue to take her out to the feeding platforms every day for as long as we can keep her there.

One last thank you to almost two years of volunteers; you all brought funding in order for us to be here and provide animals like Aman and Doris with opportunities, you brought your energy to mix cement or lay down boardwalk & brick in tropical heat.

Most of all though you brought the animals, the staff & this centre your love and that is what you bring best.

Happy New Year

Leo and all at Matang

Labels: great orangutan project, Malaysia, matang wildlife centre, orang utan, Orangutans and Rehabilitation, sunbears

Aman is recovering very well after being the first adult orangutan ever to have cataract surgery performed on him. The vets checke up on him this morning and everything is fine. Aman will now have to stay indoors for a week ot two whilst he recovers. It is improtant to keep him confined so that it is easy to check up on him, to apply his daily eye drops and to avoid exposure to direct sunlight.

The vets had to use an enormous amount of drugs to keep him unconscious during the operation so he slept for a few hours afterward the operation and woke up feeling very groggy. He has been sitting around feeling sorry for himself, closing his eyes some of the time but thankfully he has not been rubbing his eyes so all should go well. The vets will return again on Sunday for a final check up before returning to South Africa.

He has been looking around at things which is a new behaviour and we are sure that his sight has returned which is fantastic news. Aman celebrated the successful operation with a fresh and tasty dragonfruit.



Aman during his operation - on the left is a clear eye, on the right the opaque lens from the cataract is visible.

The operation was sponsored by the Orangutan Appeal UK, with volunteer donations going towards Aman's aftercare.

Labels: aman, cataract, Matang and local community education, matang wildlife centre, orang utan, orang-utan, orangutan diary

The Great Orangutan Project made it possible for the world's first cataract operation on an adult orangutan yesterday. With funding for the operation coming from the Orangutan Appeal UK, and lengthy preparation from Keith Lloyd and Caroline Bellhouse and other GOP team members, Aman was operated on by two world-class experts.

It was a tense time but incredibly awe inspiring. At first Aman was moving about as Dr Stegmann was trying to insert a line into Aman's arm to give him steady dosage of drugs, That freaked people out somewhat as a large male orangutan started to wake up surrounded by the operating team and the press core, but they soon got him to sleep and then Dr Izak started the operation itself.



Ultrasound was used to disperse the cataract. The lens is like a jelly covering and crystals can start forming onto it. As they coalesce, they form into one continuous layer we know as a cataract. All it takes is sound waves to move the crystals off the lens and into the fluid of the eye. The fluid is then sucked out and new clear fluid injected. This is what happened for Aman and he is now recovering well.

We will know whether he will see very shortly and keep you updated.

Labels: aman, cataract, Matang and local community education, matang wildlife centre, orang utan, orang-utan, orangutan diary