Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program June 2019 Code RED An e-newsletter from your friends in West Kalimantan Dear Friends and Supporters, June has been a busy month for me as I finalize my preparations for my annual trip to Indonesia. I am excited to catch up with the staff and, of course, see Walimah's new baby! This issue of Code Red features an article by Terri Breeden. After being based in Ketapang for almost 3 years as Program Director, Terri has decided to return home to the US but is continuing to help the organization grow as our new Development Director. Our second article is by one of our laboratory assistants, Muhammad Syainullah (Syai), based at Cabang Panti Reseach Station. Syai shares his impressions of our dominant male, Alfred, and his reign over Cabang Panti. Issue: 78 In This Issue: Adventures in Borneo: My Three Years Abroad - Alfred, the Rightful King! - Orangutan Population Survey - Goats for Conservation - World Rainforest Day
Transcript
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program
June 2019
Code REDAn e-newsletter from your friends in West Kalimantan
Dear Friends and Supporters, June has been a busy month for me as I finalize mypreparations for my annual trip to Indonesia. I amexcited to catch up with the staff and, of course, seeWalimah's new baby!
This issue of Code Red features an article by TerriBreeden. After being based in Ketapang for almost 3years as Program Director, Terri has decided to returnhome to the US but is continuing to help theorganization grow as our new Development Director.Our second article is by one of our laboratoryassistants, Muhammad Syainullah (Syai), based atCabang Panti Reseach Station. Syai shares hisimpressions of our dominant male, Alfred, and his reignover Cabang Panti.
On our sidebar we have a brief update about ourorangutan population survey, as well as notes abouthow our new goats are helping orangutans and how wecelebrated World Rainforest Day. I also wanted toshare this beautiful image captured by our SurveyCoordinator, Elizabeth Barrow, near the peak of MountPalung during one of our recent surveys.
View from Mount Palung taken by our SurveyCoordinator, Elizabeth Barrow, during a mountain
transect.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Knott, PhDExecutive Director Gunung Palung Orangutan ConservationProgram (GPOCP)
Adventures in Borneo: My Three YearsAbroadBy Terri Breeden, GPOCP Development Director It is hard to believe that I have spent the past threeyears living in Borneo! Leaving the comforts of homeand moving to the other side of the world was one ofthe hardest decisions I have ever made in my life, butI am so happy I did it. It was a whirlwind when I thinkback to when I was first offered the position. Within amonth I had sold all of my belongings, put mykeepsakes in storage, and took the long flights fromthe US to Jakarta, and then another two flights from
OrangutanPopulation
Survey
Our survey team hasbeen hard at workcounting orangutan
nests! We arecollecting these datato give us an updatedpopulation estimatefor Gunung PalungNational Park. This
year we are using newtechnology to help us
along the way.DRONES!
So far, we havecompleted 8 transectswithin Cabang Panti.We have had some
delays due to weatherand a high number ofnests (up to 95 on one
transect)!
Survey team headinginto the field. Photoby Elizabeth Barrow.
Once the ground teamfinishes up, we fly thedrone over those sameareas so that we can
comparethe estimates. Lastweek we flew thedrones from the
outskirts of GPNP overall 8 transects and it allwent without a hitch.
As I think back on my time here, it is hard to choose afavorite memory. I had so many adventures fromtrekking in the jungle, tubing down the rivers, cruisingon my motorbike through small villages, and workingwith the different school groups. My heart is full whenI reminisce about how I was welcomed into homes,people wanting to know about my life back in the US,and why I moved to West Kalimantan! One of my firstand favorite memories was cruising down the riverand being mesmerized by the wildlife. I saw so manymacaques, hornbills, proboscis monkeys, and my firstwild orangutan!
Terri's first sighting of a wild orangutan in WestKalimantan. Photo by Erik Sulidra.
Another favorite memory is my first visit to CabangPanti Research Station. I made the hike in with BeckyCurtis (former research assistant and Assistant Manager)and Syai (lab assistant, see article below). I wore bigrubber boots that were too large and too heavy for myfeet so I was completely exhausted by the time I madethe 14 km journey to camp. But once I reached theview of that suspension bridge, all the pain wentaway. The camp is nestled in the heart of GunungPalung National Park and feels like a scene out of Swiss
progresses...
Drone team preparing tofly over GPNP. Photo by
Elizabeth Barrow.
Goats forConservation!
Goats forConservation? At the
core of wildlifeconservation is
creating long-termsolutions and strategies
that benefit bothhumans and wildlife.
One of the heads of ourCustomary Forest
Management boards, PakEdi, with the 20 adorablenew goats! Photo credit
Edi Rahman.
Our Customary ForestManagement group
were very generouslygiven 20 goats by thelocal Forestry Ministry
to help provideadditional sustainableeconomic options that
will help decreasedeforestation and
hunting as the goatsprovide meat, dairy
Family Robinson. I spent the next few days exploringthe forest, enjoying the wildlife, and not wanting togo back to a world of internet, emails, and textmessages.
Terri (center) with some of the researchers, managers,field assistants and national park staff during her first
visit to Cabang Panti Research Station. Photo creditGPOCP.
I hope that my time with GPOCP was as beneficial tothe staff and organization as it was for my owngrowth. Over the last few years, because of our greatteamwork, GPOCP was able to make a positive impactto each of our program areas including educating over6,000 youth and adults per year about the importanceof wildlife and habitat conservation, bringing ourlegally protected Customary Forests total up to nearly10,000 hectares, converting 50 illegal loggers andminers into organic farmers and artisans, and reportingon and rescuing 12 orangutans per year from dangeroussituations. I have also made lifelong friends and familyand we all share a special bond relating toconservation, Indonesia, and a life filled withadventure. While I am no longer physically working onthe ground in Indonesia, I am happy to continuecontributing to the organization through fundraisingand spreading awareness. It has been quite a shock tobe back in the United States... for one, everyone herekeeps complaining of the heat, but to me it feels quitenice after the equatorial humidity of the tropicalrainforest!
and even fertilizer tohelp optimize
agriculture yields andthus limiting the needfor further expansion
of agriculture intoprime orangutan
habitat.
Housing just for thegoats!
These goats weregiven to our Customary
Forest group inthe Pulau Kumbangvillage, and were
received with muchexcitement and abeautiful structure
built just for them tokeep them safe at
night and from floods.The support for the
local villages, farmersand agroforestryinitiatives by the
Forestry Ministry wasdue to GPOCP's
Customary ForestProgram Manager, Edi
Rahman's, hard work incommunity
development.Kudos to Edi and the
team!
World RainforestDay
This year we haveproudly partneredagain with World
Rainforest Day to helpraise awareness andfunds, and to share
The GPOCP staff and volunteers together for a dinner.Photo credit Simon Tampubolon.
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank everyoneat GPOCP, Dr. Cheryl Knott, and all of ourcollaborators, colleagues, and my friends in Ketapang.Indonesia will always hold a special place in my heart.So, while I may be in the US for now, I know I will beback in the future. Something about this country pullsat you and makes you come back again and again. Notrip is ever the same and each one is full of newadventures!
Alfred, the Rightful King!By Muhammad Syainullah, GPOCP Lab Assistant
Hi, my name is Muhammad Syainullah, but I go by Syai.I am a laboratory assistant at the Cabang PantiResearch Station, in Gunung Palung National Park. Ourproject focuses on the behavior and physiology of wildorangutans. One of the orangutans we study is Alfred,or as I call him, not only the King, but the LegitimateKing! I call him this because I met Alfred when I firststarted working at Cabang Panti and to this day, heremains the dominate male in the area.
educational resourcesabout rainforests allaround the world!
''Rainforests help regulateglobal temperatures. Ascarbon sinks, rainforests
are one of our bestdefenses against climatechange.'' Infograpgic from
World Rainforest Day.
The World Land Trusthave some brillianteducational videos
about rainforests werecommend, and theWorld Rainforest Daywebsite has lots more
material, such ascoloring pages for
kids.
Our dedicated volunteersin Kayong Utara plantingmangroves seedlings for
Earth Day 2019.
From GPOCP, we havedecided to host
another tree plantingevent, as a follow upfrom the Earth day
Alfred, the primary dominant male in the Cabang Pantitrail system.
We estimate that Alfred is between 25 and 30 yearsold. It is difficult to determine the age of wild maleorangutans. Males tend to leave their mother, and herhome range, and travel to a new home range aroundthe time of puberty. This pattern is called 'maledispersal,' and it is very common in primates. Whenone sex disperses at puberty, it keeps closely relatedkin from mating with each other. Because, maleorangutans disperse, we cannot be sure how old anadult male is when we first see him in our studysystem. Alfred was first seen in the Cabang Panti studyarea in April of 2015. At that time, he already hadlarge flanges with scars on them. In captivity (wheremale age is known), most males have been seen todevelop flanges from 9 to 18 years of age, but somenever develop them and remain unflanged their wholelives! This is an unusual phenomenon in mammals calledmale bi-maturism. So there is a lot of variation in theage at which males could develop these flanges! SinceAlfred already had flanges, and he had flanges for along enough time to get into at least one fight withanother male that wounded him and created scars, theresearch team estimated his age to be at least twentyor twenty-five when he was first seen.
revealed that 60% tookroot and survived, sothis action will aim to
manage andsupplement the currentseedlings with at least
100 new ones!
AdventuresAmong
Orangutans: NAT GEO LIVE
Tour!
GPOCP ExecutiveDirector, Dr. Cheryl
Knott, and herhusband, wildlife
photojournalist Dr.Tim Laman, are on aworld tour with NAT
GEO LIVE! to give talksabout their adventuresamong the orangutansin Gunung Palung over
the past 30 years!
Visit the NAT GEO LIVEwebsite to learn the
tour dates andlocations, and comehear about orangutan
One day, while searching for orangutans in the forest, Iwas excited to find a young female. I was preparing tofollow her, when I realized that Alfred was rightbehind her! Even though he is quite habituated to usfollowing him, and wild orangutans do not attackobservers, I was still intimidated to be that close.Flanged males weigh approximately 60-85 kg and travelterrestrially more often than other orangutans. Since Iwas new to the project and less experienced beingaround such large creatures, I immediately backedaway from him to respect his space. (When followingorangutans, we always keep a safe distance of at least10 meters, for the safety of both the human observersand the orangutan.)
Syai searching for orangutans in the Cabang Panti trailsystem of Gunung Palung National Park. Photo by
Muhammad Syainullah.
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One of the things I find most fascinating is how longAlfred has remained the primary male in the CabangPanti trail system. He has been the dominant malehere the whole time that I have been at CPRS. We seemany flanged males throughout the year in the studysystem, but Alfred is the one we see the most. Duringthe most recent mast fruiting event, there was oneday in which 6 different males were seen or heard (bythe location of their long calls) all within one hour inthe study system! Over the last couple of years, I have learned manyinteresting things about Alfred, about his kingdom, andabout other orangutans. But the biggest lesson of all isthat we must protect orangutan habitat to protect thespecies!
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP) http://saveGPorangutans.org [email protected]
