MOTHERLY LOVE GOES A LONG WAY

It’s true that a mother’s love lasts forever and this is also the case for Yayang, a female orangutan, who has lovingly taken care of her daughter Sayang right from birth and all the way through their rehabilitation and even still now in the Kehje Sewen Forest, East Kalimantan where they were released in early December 2013.

Since their release, both Yayang and Sayang have shown incredible abilities to quickly adapt to their new life in the wild. Both rarely descend to the ground and choose to spend almost all of their time in the forest canopy. Yayang is exceptionally good at identifying forest foods, not only fruits, but also leaves, barks and termites. Sayang has picked up plenty of skills from her mother, especially how to find good meals in the forest.

Our Post Release Monitoring team has had fun monitoring these two. They are so smart and active it is a pleasure to observe them, but at the same time challenging as the team have to focus on both individuals. Sayang in particular moves around so much, the team were having problems keeping up with her. She easily moves through the trees with Yayang patiently following after. Everytime Sayang had trouble reaching for a branch, Yayang was quick to do it for her, and make herself into a bridge enabling little Sayang to climb across safely.

Yayang’s love for her daughter is deeply touching. Yayang always appears to look on proudly everytime Sayang grasps a new understanding of a concept or tool. They have been living in the wild in the Kehje Sewen forest for a year now. Sayang is now 6 and started to display some independence, though Yayang is still on hand to give her supervision. Young orangutans usually start to live away from their mothers at 6-8 years old, so it is only natural for Yayang to let her daughter begin to explore on her own. Our observations show that Yayang has begun to spend time with male orangutans in the area and clearly she is starting to let her daughter go.

Little Sayang has now befriended Lesan, a female orangutan released in April 2012. Lesan seems to enjoy her company, too. She may think of Sayang as a younger sister. Both were frequently found eating fruit from the same tree and exploring the forest, while Yayang was still monitoring from a distance. It is amazing to witness such love of an orangutan in preparing her daughter for independence.

 Sayang is truly a lucky child!