Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program February 2019 Code RED An e-newsletter from your friends in West Kalimantan Dear Friends and Supporters, February came and went way too quickly and we have been focusing on solidifying new action plans, collaborations and partnerships for the coming year. In this issue of Code Red, Petrus Kanisius, our Communications & Media Officer, shares with us a narrative of visiting the jungle paradise that is Cabang Panti, where we held our Annual Meeting at the start of the month. Then, Dr. Alys Granados, our Research Manager, tells us about the mast fruiting event that is occurring in Gunung Palung right now. On our side bar we have some fun news about the Head of Gunung Palung National Park visiting GPOCP's office, highlights from some of our female scientists Issue: 74 In This Issue: Jungle paradise for GPOCP's Annual Meeting - Mast in Gunung Palung - National Park visits GPOCP! - Inter-species Conservation Support - International Day of Women and Girls in Science National Park Visits GPOCP!
Transcript
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program
February 2019
Code REDAn e-newsletter from your friends in West Kalimantan
Dear Friends and Supporters, February came and went way too quickly and we havebeen focusing on solidifying new action plans,collaborations and partnerships for the coming year.
In this issue of Code Red, Petrus Kanisius, ourCommunications & Media Officer, shares with us anarrative of visiting the jungle paradise that isCabang Panti, where we held our Annual Meeting atthe start of the month. Then, Dr. Alys Granados, ourResearch Manager, tells us about the mast fruitingevent that is occurring in Gunung Palung right now.
On our side bar we have some fun news about theHead of Gunung Palung National Park visiting GPOCP'soffice, highlights from some of our female scientists
for International Day for Women and Girls in Science,as well as Inter-species Conservation Support fromSlothGrip for the Gunung Palung Orangutans.
We hope you enjoy this month's newsletter and shareit with those who may be interested. Be sure to checkour social media and website to interact with ourupcoming campaigns! Sincerely,
Cheryl Knott, PhDExecutive Director Gunung Palung Orangutan ConservationProgram (GPOCP)
Jungle Paradise for GPOCP's AnnualMeeting By Petrus Kanisius, GPOCP Communications & MediaOfficer
At the start of February, the whole GPOCPconservation team hiked the 5 hour trek into theforest and joined our research team at Cabang PantiResearch Station in the heart of Gunung PalungNational Park for our Annual Meeting. For some ofthem, despite working for GPOCP for years, this wastheir first time at the research station!
GPOCP staff at Cabang Panti Annual Meeting. Photo byRizal Al Qadri.
Excitement and a sense of comradery filled the air aswe got deeper into the forest and were surrounded bythe sheer variety of plants, animals and enormoustrees. The hike itself became a team-building exercise
We were honored tohave Pak Ari, the Head
of Gunung PalungNational Park, visit ouroffice to discuss future
collaborationstogether!
Inter-speciesConservation
Support!
We are excited topartner
with Slothgrip tosupport our orangutanconservation efforts!
They specificallydesigned these
beautiful patches withthe proceeds going to
a selected charity(us!)
The purchase of thesepatches will enable us
to acquire FirePrevention Kits for
combating forest firesin our Customary
Forest villages and atour research station inthe heart of Gunung
with frequent words of encouragement given, and thejoy of being able to freely joke and intermingle withstaff from different ethnic groups, religions, culturesand countries. Just minutes before arriving at CabangPanti Research Station we were greeted first by ablessing of rain (literally)! We were soaked but thrilledto have arrived and made our way through the jungleand deluge. After dinner, on our first night at Cabang Panti, ourfellow research colleagues invited us to sing alongwith them to soothe away all thoughts of the hustleand bustle of the city. Some people also played cardgames, ate dried cassava and some choose to go tobed early because of the long hike in.
GPOCP and National Park staff at one of the waterfallswithin Cabang Panti's trail system. Photo By Simon
Tampubolon.
Our Annual Meeting filled two whole days, followed bymovies and sing-alongs at night. After which we hadthe opportunity to visit two of the big waterfalls inthe park together with National Park staff. Thewaterfalls were not only beautiful and offeredrefreshing swims after the tough hikes to find them,but were also framed in greenery that really amplifiedthe feeling of a jungle spa. Relaxation wasn't the onlyeffect the waterfalls had though, some of the staffstarted having a jumping contest from the 10 meterhigh cliff! Our Environmental Education Field Officer,Hendri Gunawan, commented after jumping "Maybeone second of life was lost when jumping into thewaterfall.''
Slothgrip and thefundraising campaign
HERE. Get yours today!
International Dayof Women and Girls
in Science
In honor ofInternational Day ofWomen and Girls in
Science we highlightedsome of our inspiringfemale scientists on
our social media sites!
Some of our ladies inthe scientific spotlight
included Rinta Islami who is ourField Lab Manager (and
Enjoying another waterfall in Cabang Panti's trailsystem in Gunung Palung National Park. Photo by
Haning Pertiwi.
The gorgeous variety of biodiversity in the form offlora and fauna in Gunung Palung National Parkprovided not only beauty but fruit snacks for us duringour stay. New shoots of Shorea spp (meranti) plantsappeared without hesitation and orchids decoratedthe trees. We swam and relaxed in the cool waters ofthe river - surrounded by macaques, hornbills, andaccompanied by fish.
Shorea spp. shoot germinating at Cabang Panti. Photoby Petrus Kanisius.
At Cabang Panti Research Station there is a mainbuilding which contains the kitchen, labs, storage andcommon areas, offices and volunteeraccommodations. There are also two houses for thecamp managers, a lodging area for foreignresearchers, as well as two structures for the full-timeresearch assistants and the National Park staff, whichdoubles as an education display and an enlighteningphoto gallery.
Manager, has beenresearching Indonesianbiodiversity for more
than 7 years!
Natalie Robinson,Research Assistant and
recent Boston Universitygraduate, is currently
studying the relationshipbetween orangutans and
parasites.
Choose GPOCP as your AmazonSmile recipient and 0.05% of your
The experience brought many new insights for us all.We shared and discussed our organization's plans forthe upcoming year, as well as benefited fromeveryone's knowledge and comradery as we made newfriends and shared in the excitement! Jungle settings,with the humidity, biting insects and tough conditions,offer excellent team building opportunities! There isalways a hand to pull you out of the mud, a keen eyethat points out gorgeous birds, or kind laughter as youpull off your fifth leech that afternoon.
Thank you to the researchers at Cabang Panti, friendsof GPOCP, and colleagues from Gunung Palung NationalPark Office for hosting us with a warm welcome! Wecan't wait to visit this hidden paradise again!
Mast in Gunung PalungBy Dr. Alys Granados, PhD, GPOCP Research Manager A massive fruiting event is currently underway atGunung Palung National Park. Gunung Palung isdominated by dipterocarp trees which only producefruit every 2-10 years. At Cabang Panti, floweringbegan in August with peak fruiting through Novemberand December. These massive fruiting episodes areknown as masting events and are characterized asbeing short in duration (peak fruiting is around 6weeks), irregular and unpredictable in occurrence, andby the hyper-abundance of fruit produced. In otherwords, trees make a LOT of fruit over a short periodof time every few years. Dipterocarp fruits may notlook very appetizing as they lack any real pulp, butthey are packed with nutrients sought after by a rangeof animals.
the only thing thatever does."
-Margaret Mead-
Dipterocarp fruits have wings that aid inseed dispersal. Photo by Dr. Alys Granados
The unpredictable nature of these masting eventsmakes them difficult to study and there is a lot we stilldon't know about how animals in the rainforest areaffected. Research suggests that masting is importantto many animals and that for some, the increasedquantity of food may facilitate increasedreproduction. Much of what we know comes from previous work inGunung Palung by Dr. Lisa Curran and Dr. MarkLeighton. They found that a number of animals shiftedtheir movement patterns to track dipterocarp fruitingtrees. Some species, like bearded pigs (a species ofconservation concern) also seem to time theirreproduction to coincide with the peak in dipterocarpfruiting. Dr. Curran and Dr. Leighton's work highlightsthe importance of these trees for a number ofthreatened species that live in the rainforests ofSoutheast Asia. However, forests in Borneo are underthreat from human activity such as selective logging,where reproductive dipterocarp trees are targetedfor removal, leading to reduced masting intensity. Myown research in Malaysian Borneo suggests that animalslike bearded pigs show weaker responses to mastingin logged forests compared to those in unloggedforest, even at sites were fruit production iscomparable. In unlogged forests, the number ofbearded piglets detected by our camera traps showed
a sharp increase, whereas there was little differencein the occurrence of piglets seen between mast andnon-mast years in logged forest.
Walimah eating Tetramistera fruit. Photo by ErinKane.
Mast fruiting also gives us insights into the specialadaptations orangutans have. Our project director, Dr.C h e ry l Knott, has shown that orangutans takeadvantage of these periods of fruit abundance byeating huge amounts of fruit, including dipterocarpseeds, leading to a massive increase in their calorieintake. They are then able to put on significant fatstores that sustain them through the periods of lowfood availability that often follow the mast fruiting.Dr. Knott has also shown that during the masts femaleorangutan hormonal levels increase and they are morelikely to get pregnant.
I feel incredibly lucky to be here during a mast fruitingand to witness first-hand how the orangutans, andother wildlife, respond to this fruit bonanza. We stillhave so much more to learn about this fabulous, butthreatened, ecosystem.
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP) http://saveGPorangutans.org [email protected]
