How time flies. It’s remarkable to think that it was six years ago this month when orphaned orangutans Kotim and Torup were released back into the wild after graduating from our soft-release programme. It feels like only yesterday, and Orangutan Foundation Director/Trustee Ashley Leiman OBE remembers it well:

“It’s always a joy when orangutans leave our care and successfully return to a life in the wild. When possible, we time the release dates for when I’m out in the field and I was delighted to be present to see Kotim and Torup beginning their independent life in the forest…

…Kotim and Torup were two young orphans that were found on community land in 2014 and brought to our soft release programme at Camp Rasak. After two years they had shown competence in orangutan skills such as finding food and making a nest to sleep. They were spending more and more time out in the forest, and it was getting harder to get them back – we knew that they were ready to leave.

They were carried by piggyback about 1 kilometre further into the forest. When the assistants lifted them down and put them on a tree, they instantly climbed high into the canopy. Torup went first and immediately started eating leaves, a great sign that he was both relaxed and capable of looking after himself. We stayed for about half an hour, watching ever further glimpses at the canopy level and then they disappeared into the forest. We couldn’t have hoped for a better start…

…For ten days Kotim and Torup were followed by our assistants, who kept an eye on them as they adapted to life in the wild. Since then, Torup has never been seen again, but Kotim comes back every now and then, and has befriended a few orangutans that are currently in soft release.

For the assistants who have been with them every day for years, releases can be an emotional time. For me, I just love the moment when the cage opens or the orangutans are set on a tree and instantly they’re orangutans – they can do this and they know what to do...

…I find it fascinating that a young orphan can make a nest without its mother there to teach it. Is it imprinted from the short time they are with the mother, or is it just written into their being like a computer code?

We don’t have to teach them orangutan skills, we just facilitate and watch until they’ve mastered it themselves. When we rescue orangutans and bring them for release in a transit cage, we take them by boat to the edge of the river, open the cage and they’re gone – straight up a tree as if they’ve never been away.”

Releasing an orphaned orangutan back to the wild is no doubt an incredible feeling for our team, but there’s a lot of hard work needed to care for a young active great ape. Adopt an orangutan in our soft-release programme for yourself or as a gift today and you can give a helping hand to primates like Kotim & Torup!