In December we shared the extraordinary story of Sinta, a young wild orangutan who was recently found abandoned in the forest and so taken in by our field team. Sinta would have been destined for an ominous future had she not received help, now though, she could follow in the footsteps of another young primate who started out with a similarly remarkable story- Ketty.

Female orangutan Korin was released into the protected Lamandau Wildlife Reserve in 2003 and quickly established herself around Camp Gemini. Our field team were thrilled to see she had put her previous life as a pet behind her when she gave birth to Ketty in May 2013.

Living in the rainforest however comes with a great number of challenges for orangutan mothers. Sadly in March 2015, young Ketty was found in a deadly situation, alone in the forest with mother Korin nowhere in sight. Infant orangutans have little to no chance of survival without their mother’s protection and guidance, but thankfully our field staff were on hand to offer Ketty a second chance in our soft-release programme for orphaned orangutans.

Understandably, the first few weeks on her own were tough for Ketty. In her overnight enclosure at Camp Gemini she would often be heard calling out in distress, perhaps for her mother, but soon other orphans were able to come to Ketty’s rescue.

Learning alongside her fellow campmates in the safety of the forest, Ketty soon gained the confidence to practice foraging for food and building nests. Despite some playful distractions from orphaned orangutan Okto, by 2017, Ketty had progressed immensely and was prepared to be released back into the wild where she could put all her forest skills into action.

She was clearly ready to go solo, but upon Ketty’s release it was evident she still wanted a helping hand to guide her on her journey back forest life. Monitoring her development post-release, we could see that she had formed a partnership and had been taken under the wing of wild female Acuy and her infant Ariel. Together these wild orangutans truly helped Ketty acclimatise and settle into her new surroundings.

With such a difficult start to life, it would be reasonable to think that Ketty would struggle to cope on her own in the wild. However, through her temporary adopted families, first in our soft-release programme and then with Acuy and Ariel, she’s successfully integrated into a thriving wild population.

Today we no longer see Ketty around camp as she’s ventured deep into the Reserve, but her success story can reassure us that orphans like Sinta can also become a fully independent wild orangutan given time.