One of five orphaned orangutans at Camp JL within the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, Nyunyu has progressed tremendously since her introduction to the Foundation’s soft-release programme in 2017.

At around 3½ years old, Nyunyu was discovered being kept as a pet before being handed over to our team in the town of Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Without a mother to learn from, entering a programme to learn and develop essential forest skills was critical for Nyunyu so that she could have the best possible chance of a successful future in the wild.

Today, Nyunyu shares Camp JL with fellow orangutans Boy, Mona, Timtom, and Adib. These young primates are regularly brought into the forest by our assistants to practice skills such as climbing, nest-building, and foraging for food.

Our teams frequently observe Nyunyu eating bark, fruits, and ants in the trees, but had never seen her building a nest- until now. Recently we spotted her bending tree branches and eating the young leaves, as per usual, however she then began arranging the vegetation into the shape of a nest for the very first time. A breakthrough moment for the learning great ape!

As it was Nyunyu’s first ever attempt at building a nest, it is fair to say that it was not as strong as it could be. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful sign that Nyunyu’s forest skills are developing and she’s continuing to grow in confidence.

Will practice make perfect for Nyunyu’s nest-building ability? Only time will tell, but our team will continue to monitor her progress and are very pleased with the growth she has made thus far. We are hopeful that Nyunyu has the potential to join the many orangutan graduates of the soft-release programme and be released into the Reserve one day.

It’s never easy for a young primate to adjust from a life in a cage to one in the forest, but Nyunyu is a prime example of a rescued orangutan on the right path to a successful independent future in the wild.