"Fwooot .... fwooot ... fwooot ..." sounded a whistle blown by Aliyas. Immediately Upon hearing the whistle, a group of sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) ran to the enclosure’s door, waiting for it to open. Aliyas the technician pulled the cage door, counting the number of bears that flocked into the corridor. One by one, female bears began to walk down the corridor that connects the socialization enclosures.
Socialization enclosure is a big enclosure where the bears can interact with each other. However, we separate females from males to prevent mating. Socialization enclosures are made as natural as possible, with plenty of trees, logs, grass, small ponds and some culverts, intended for bear to learn to find food and make their own resting places.
Mealtime! The bears started running. Relying on their acute sense of smell, they began to explore the cage looking for fruits that have been spread by the technicians. Some are aggressive, some are only able to comb the sides of the fence, hoping to find food there.
Mealtime in a tree
From a distance, we saw two bears fighting each other under a tree, over a papaya fruit. From outside the fence, came the sound of a technician calling the bears’ names, and eventually telling them not to fight and look for other foods.
Then there is Imah that loved digging the soil. Apparently she was more interested in worms and termites for her afternoon meal. She seemed excited and did not care about her other friends. In contrast to Kecil that loved to climb, Kecil was happier to find food on top of trees. Because afterwards, she could rest and sleep right away. It was amazing just to observe the different behaviors and personalities of the bears. Each of them was capable of finding food his/her own way.
The afternoon sun was very hot, our shirts were already soaked with sticky sweat. Aliyas and his friends ended their day and left the enclosure. Activity came to an end this afternoon, but tomorrow would be another set of excitement for sure at the Sun Bear Sanctuary in Samboja Lestari. See you tomorrow…
The BOS Foundation, together with the KLHK and the BKSDA of Central Kalimantan will soon conduct the 44th orangutan release from the Nyaru Menteng Rehabilitation Centre to the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR).
Every year on April 22, we celebrate Earth Day to honour the planet that is home to us all.
It was a usual day at the Nyaru Menteng forest school, where young orangutans were learning from one another while their human surrogate mothers looked on from below.
