Siti and her best friend Sudin have been in the rehabilitation program in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem in Sumatra for just over one year.
Gorgeous little Siti at Jungle School
Both orangutans are active and healthy. Siti was suffering from quite severe pneumonia when she was rescued. However, she has recovered well and has not relapsed during her forest training. Medical care is provided for all orangutans at the centre including being given regular deworming tablets and multivitamins.
Siti and Sudin go out to Jungle School almost every day to learn forest skills including climbing, foraging and nest building. Siti is very independent and has shown good climbing and foraging skills. For such a young orangutan, Siti has also shown great promise with her nest building skills. She has observed and copied other orangutans. She will look for strong branches to build a nest and will then fold over leaves and smaller branches to make a comfy nest. Sudin likes to observe her building a nest and will then often plonk himself in it!
Sudin and Siti like to play with other orangutans, especially the juveniles and babies of released orangutans. Several nursing females let Siti and Sudin follow them. This is wonderful since the youngsters can learn vital skills from these experienced orangutans and they also get to socialise with other young orangutans. Sudin will sometimes come to the ground and seek out the attention of the orangutan trainers. If he does this, then they will ignore him or carry him to another area to increase his curiosity. Siti is more independent than Sudin, so she spends most of her time in the canopy and is less reliant on the trainers.
They spend most of their time 5-10 meters above the ground, however they also climb as high as 25m into the canopy. Siti is more agile when moving from tree to tree than Sudin. Sudin can be a bit clumsy and has had a few falls.
When it is too wet for Jungle School the orangutan keepers will bring Siti and Sudin extra enrichment to keep them busy in their enclosure. Enrichment includes puzzle feeders, sugar cane and forest fruits. Sudin and Siti still receive fruits, vegetables and milk every day. Siti’s favourite food is bananas, however she is not a picky eater.
It is wonderful to see how well Siti and Sudin are doing at Jungle School. They have a very close bond which is very important for orphaned orangutans. It provides comfort and security and an increase in confidence when learning new things. Being able to interact with other more experienced orangutans in the forest has also proven to be very beneficial to their learning. Thank you to Siti’s adopters for helping this beautiful little girl on her way to forest freedom.
