Elisa was brought to Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project in a little wooden cage, by two men demanding payment for her. She was a small, but healthy looking orangutan with an appetite for bananas. On closer inspection, the staff noticed a bullet lodged under her jaw. Baby orangutans are sometimes injured or even killed when their mother’s are shot from the tree tops. After much discussion, the two men agreed to leave her at Nyaru Menteng overnight without payment, but never returned. Elisa is a very independent infant. She is the first to climb into the trees in the morning and likes to play alone. Elisa has well developed forest skills. She can find her own forest fruit, samples an assortment of leaves and makes her own nests. Not that she uses these for her naps however. Elisa prefers to rest in the hammock where she can snuggle up next to the babysitter. Once in the hammock, she considers it ‘hers’, and refuses to share the hammock or the attention of the babysitter with any of the other orphans.
Elisa, just like little Beda is a very active, healthy and energetic little girl. Unlike Wenda she likes all her food eating everything. Her skin has darkened in the last few months and her hair is thinning because of the rough playtime she has with her orangutan’s playmates.
She can be naughty and often gives the babysitters the slip from forest school, returning to the camp looking for extra food!
