Princess

She, an orange bundle

turned the water red,

as she waded through the depths

with a baby knotted to her side,

forming a yogi

balance to yank at a fruit.

Lapped by waves

of a steaming klotok

riding into dock

she found her chance to hitch-hike,

to Camp Leakey,

the promise-land of bananas

and as the boat curved into port

she crept aboard,

seated herself on a pea-green bench above the unfolding waves -

there the camp rose from the water

like an ancient tomb

and she did not watch the men

as they pushed the boat’s flank into the dock

but instead, with arms outstretched,

she helped them ease closer.

IMAX’s ‘Born to be wild’ star of the month: Douglas Soledo

Douglas Soledo has a story quite unlike the tales of other orangutan orphans. Featured in the new IMAX movie, BORN TO BE WILD, opening this April, Douglas Soledo is about to become an international movie star! His arrival at OFI’s Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine (OCCQ) in 2010 coincided with the beginning of the film shoot. His name comes from two aspects of the filming process: David Douglas was the Director of Photography on the film shoot, and Soledo was the name of one of the Imax cameras the film crew used. Thus, the new resident of the OCCQ was named Douglas Soledo. BORN TO BE WILD follows the rehabilitation journeys of several orphaned orangutans until they are eventually released into the wilds of Borneo. Several orangutans from OFI’s Care Center were cast in the film. Douglas Soledo was selected to illustrate the baby phase. Yet his own story has a dark side, one that he is still recovering from: the death of his mother at a palm oil plantation.



Despite his involvement in the film, Douglas didn’t let fame go to his head. He appeared shy around two recent documentary filmmakers who were interested in his tale of stardom. He timidly observed one of the male filmmakers and when the man held out his hand to stroke him, Douglas nipped him on the finger. He seems nervous around men, and his cautiousness continued through the recent filming process. At one stage, Douglas swiped at the filmmaker’s camera when it got too close. If he doesn’t trust someone, he certainly knows how to stand up for himself, even though he is barely one foot tall. And yet Douglas can be the sweetest creature around the people he knows and trusts. His tight bear hugs feel reassuring and he often seeks affection from his caregivers. His eyes have been described as “heart-melting.” Douglas’s female orangutan friends also seem to have fallen for his charms. Poppy, a gentle sweetheart, has been seen caressing his shoulders or simply wrapped around his little pot belly. Douglas, however, remained ambivalent about this attention and sat like a dumpling with his arms flat by his sides as she cuddled him. Another female, Sri, often showers him with affection as well. Douglas has made other progress as well. From his two night enclosure buddies, Poppy and Hoffman, Douglas has learnt some basic foraging skills such as finding edible berries or fruit which grow in the Care Center forest, as well as digging at the bottom of trees for ants. It is always interesting to watch him eat; he rolls out his big lusty lips so that he can further examine the food on the tip of his lips which he seems to churn on for hours, making occasional sucking sounds. Yet Douglas’s story has sad undertones.



When he first arrived at the Care Center he often cried at night, most likely traumatized by the death of his mother. Douglas Soledo came from a region of Central Borneo where many palm oil plantations have replaced the jungle; loggers or palm oil workers probably killed Douglas’s mother in front of him, since young babies are constantly attached to their mothers. He was sold to a village family for 300,000 Indonesian rupiah ($34.5 American dollars) and was kept in a little plastic cot with a towel. The family soon realized the difficulty of constantly having to look after Douglas and having to buy milk for Douglas when they already had their own small baby. The village family contacted OFI for help. Trucks and men are particularly stressful for Douglas; perhaps they bring back traumatic memories. One memorable day when he was taken into the forest, he heard the sound of a large truck passing by the Care Centre. This sent him into a panic; scrambling rapidly up to the neck of his caregiver for protection, he knocked over a bottle she had given him and spilled it all over her. Miss Tika has become his foster mother and needs to reassure him whenever he cries, squeals, or otherwise seems anxious.



At first, like many human infants, Douglas needed the constant reassurance of an object. He latched onto a towel which he firmly clutched in his hand, sometimes dragging it behind him, sometimes flinging it around (much like a human baby with a security blanket). Yet with the constant care of his human mother, Douglas has become a happier infant who is developing good relationships with his orangutan peers. He no longer needs his security blanket! In time, perhaps he will be able to forget the trauma of his past, which still seems to haunt him. His wariness of certain people, however, is possibly a good thing. Throughout his rehabilitation process at OFI’s Care Center he will be taught important life skills for return to the rain forests of Borneo where caution around humans will be an imperative for survival. Update: You can buy a poster of or help foster Douglas Soledo here Your purchase goes to support the rehabilitation process of Douglas Soledo and other orangutans at OFI’s Care Center.

Meet Siswi: IMAX star and long-time sweetheart of Camp Leakey visitors

In the new IMAX movie, Born to be Wild, Siswi is filmed sharing noodles with Dr Biruté Mary Galdikas as they sit together outside Galdikas’ house in Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Borneo. Siswi is also captured walking on the causeway from the river, and wrestling playfully with Dr Galdikas. Camp Leakey is the historic research and conservation camp which Dr. Galdikas established in 1971 and where she began her research about the orangutans of Borneo with the encouragement of the famous paleoanthropologist Dr Louis Leakey (hence the name of the camp). Leakey strongly believed we could discover more about human evolution by studying the great apes, our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom: gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans.



Siswi’s appearance in the film is not surprising since she frequently comes back to camp from the forest. In fact, her placid yet intelligent nature illustrates perfectly how humans and animals can live side by side, quite literally. Siswi doesn’t always make a nest high in the trees and will occasionally sleep in a shelter by the boat dock instead. She also enjoys relaxing and playing with the rangers by the kitchen or with visiting boat crews at the riverbank. By observing the humans around her, she has learned how to use tools such as brooms, and has picked up various tactics to receive extra food. This is an unusual example of a wild orangutan exhibiting behavior shared by all great apes: imitation. Dr Galdikas has researched imitation by wild-born, ex-captive orangutans at Camp Leakey. Research indicates that imitation is an expression of intelligence and that features of this behavior could mean that some orangutan tool use is acquired by social learning through imitation. Science aside, Siswi’s story is rich in personal highlights and dramas.

Siswi is often called “the receptionist” by the local tour-guides since she is often the first orangutan seen by the tourists visiting Camp Leakey. True to character, she often enjoys dozing at the dock where the tourists first disembark. Although Camp Leakey is still a vital research station where Dr. Galdikas and the OFI rangers track wild orangutans and record their behavior and ecology, nonetheless, tourism is key for increasing local and international understanding of orangutans and their rainforest habitat. Siswi’s friendly nature and “center-of-attention” antics are well received by Camp visitors. She almost seems to crave the attention of photographers, and happily tolerates the crowds, rolling on the jetty, legs waving in the air.


A Complicated Love Life

As the tourists visit the feeding station, where supplementary fruit is provided to the orangutans in the afternoon, the captains and boat crew of the klotoks (the long boats used to transport tourists to Tanjung Puting National park) often sit and play with Siswi. She seems comfortable around people and enjoys their attention. This behavior is remarkably different from all the other female orangutans, who appear at Camp Leakey mainly for an occasional brief visit. In fact, Siswi is the only female at the camp without an infant; perhaps this explains her hunger for human affection. A terrible infection which almost killed her some years ago probably affected her ability to have offspring. Unfortunately, this also decreased male orangutan attention to her, which she seems to crave. At one time Siswi followed the dominant male of Camp Leakey, Tom. Tom mates with most of the females in his territory except Siswi, despite her efforts to tempt him. The rangers claimed that after several days of stalking Tom, they saw him tire of Siswi, eventually chasing her away. That afternoon, Siswi seemed reticent and out of character, ignoring the boat crew and staying in her shelter quietly and alone, wanting only to sleep. One might imagine that Tom’s rejection of her had upset Siswi. Kusasi, the previous dominant male, had often consorted with Siswi. In fact, she was one of his favorites. Since she can no longer have offpsring, Siswi seems very jealous of other females and will chase them away whenever they get to close to her.

Yet despite a complicated personal life, Siswi remains the heart and soul of Camp Leakey and the rangers who work there are full of tales relating to her antics. In one story, the rangers describe the day Siswi was eating a watermelon. A rumor circulated in camp that Dr Galdikas, who was expected to arrive that day, had already reached the dock. “Ibu Professor is here!” one of the rangers exclaimed (‘Ibu’ is a respectful Indonesian address to a woman). Siswi recognized these words as soon as she heard them and immediately abandoned her watermelon to head down to the dock but Dr. Galdikas had not yet arrived. She was nowhere in sight. Siswi simply turned away, returned to camp and continued eating her watermelon. Rangers are also eager to show visitors photographs on their cell phones depicting Siswi holding a bright pink umbrella over her head.



Imitating Human Behavior

Siswi is one of only two orangutans in the camp allowed to enter the storeroom where the fruit for the daily feeding is kept. This is because Siswi only takes the food she needs and never causes a mess like the other orangutanss who raid the storage area. It’s a good deal: by keeping the place tidy, Siswi gets first pick of the fruit, and always ensures that she picks the ripest ones. Siswi also excels at imitating the humans around her, yet all of her behavior is entirely self-taught – yet more evidence of orangutan intelligence. Sometimes she will sweep the kitchen with a broom, an example of tool-use; other times she steals sandals from unaware tourists and wears them on her hands. One captain remembers how Siswi once stole some clothes from his boat and tried to put them on, admittedly with much difficulty. Siswi certainly seems to be thriving at Camp Leakey. She is surrounded by lush, bountiful rain forest with all its food resources, and has a supply of fruit from the storeroom whenever she needs it. This lifestyle seems to suit her laid-back character. Yet after such a complicated personal life, who can blame her for wanting to take things a little easy?

Bathing Baby Douglas

Lapped by soapy water

soon his whole body became spongy white

as curls of hair drew thick bubbles

so strange

they needed to be rubbed out of sight.

Soon the temptation

was too strong,

it could not be yielded.

As Poppy doubled in size with soap

Douglas leaned over,

licked her back to orange

until his curiosity

was abated

by the warm water,

that poured surreptitiously

over his fun.