The past couple of months have been a whirlwind for our orangutan monitoring team in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. As well as keeping on eye on the previously orphaned orangutans released last year, during their daily surveillance in this protected tropical forest the team are also recording so many orangutan births and pregnancies at the moment that’s it’s sometimes difficult to keep track!

First came the fantastic news that reintroduced orangutan Camelia had given birth to Tasia (below), the female’s second offspring. As mentioned in a recent Orangutan Story, Camelia sadly lost her previous infant Charles, so it’s reassuring to see her caring for another newborn. Our staff at Camp Gemini have kept watch on the pair over the past few weeks and are delighted to see them explore the forest far and wide.

Next, our team turned their attention to Max, another female spotted in the forest around Camp Gemini. Like Camelia, Max lost an infant in the past too, so it was a special moment for our staff when she arrived at camp on the 4th of January showing off her latest newborn.

Every orangutan has a distinctive character and personality to it’s easy to get caught up in their individual story. Max for example was released into the wild in 2003 and over the years has become accustomed to seeing our staff at feeding sites and elsewhere in the forest. This familiarity has enabled our team to take some wonderful photographs (below) and get a closer look at the health and sex of her infant. Happily, we can see that the pair are doing very well. Now we can be quite sure that Max’s newborn is female and so has been given the local name- Mely.

Mely is the first newborn orangutan that we have recorded in 2022, but excitingly, she won’t be the last! Astonishingly, we’ve received news that a further two females will soon be expecting offspring as well.

Berline (below) is found in the forest surrounding Camp Buluh and is the oldest living offspring of female orangutan Betli whose exact age is unknown as she in an entirely wild great ape. To think that we could soon witness the third generation of this family tree in the wild is such an inspiring prospect!

Sakura meanwhile at Camp Gemini (below), was born in the wild in 2008 to reintroduced female Sheila and has emerged as a confident and independent orangutan in the forest. Sakura’s pregnancy, like Berline’s, is her first chance at motherhood and will also be the first opportunity for us to see Sheila become a grandparent. Such an rewarding time in the forest!

With the remarkable recent news, our monitoring teams in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve could soon be approaching 100 recorded orangutan births in the years to come. According to a survey in 2016, there are over 600 orangutans living in this ecosystem so this really puts into context how fruitful the forest has been of late. This habitat truly is a haven for this critically endangered species and we can’t wait to see this healthy population continue to grow!