Great ape names

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ALL the orangutans at the Semenggoh Nature Reserve (SNR) are given a name.

They may be named after the place of their birth. For instance, one of the females is named Seduku after Seduku Island where she comes from.

They may also be named after certain events or people. One of the males is named Sadammiah, apparently after Saddam Hussein.

Then there are those named after the organisations adopting them. One example is a female called Digital Guro, named after the Guro District Council of Seoul, South Korea.

One of the two latest additions to the orangutan population at SNR could well be named Malaysia or Mas as it was believed to be born on Sept 16 — Malaysia Day.

According to Chong Jiew Han, manager (Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation) of the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre (SWC), located within SRN, the mother of the newborn, 20-year-old Analisa, was last seen at the feeding platform on Sept 13.

Then five days later (Sept 18), she emerged from the jungle  with a baby. That means she must have given birth on either Sept 14, 15, 16 or 17.

“No one is sure. But we decided on Sept 16 because first, it’s a date in the middle and secondly, Sept 16 is Malaysia Day. So we’re all thinking of a name for the new arrival — Malaysia or its short form, Mas,” Chong told thesundaypost.

“To us, Mas is a better choice. From our observations, as orangutans mature, they do respond to their given names. Since they share more than 90 per cent of human DNA, they know when we call them by their names,” he added.

On Oct 6 morning, reporters from The Borneo Post visited SWC. It was feeding time and Analisa came with her three-week-old baby clinging to her like a second skin. Sometimes, it opened its eyes. At other times, it closed its eyes as if it was sleeping.

Analisa tried to feed her baby some bananas with her mouth but the little one seemed uninterested.

For at least five times, Chong told us it was our lucky day because to protect the baby, Analisa had not been coming to feed that often. She is wary of the other males who might behave roughly and hurt her baby.

Analisa’s newborn is yet to be given a name. Its sex is still not known as it has been clinging to its mother all this while and SWC officers have yet to get an opportunity to examine it.

SWC has a naming process. A committee, headed by the its corporate communication department, will offer suggestions and the CEO of Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) will make the final decision.

In the case Analisa’s baby, it’s slightly different. As it was believed to be born on Malaysia Day, SFC CEO Wong Ting Chung had decided to invite the public to suggest a name.

The deadline is Nov 20 and the winner will be invited to attend SFC annual dinner on Nov 25 where he or she will be acknowledged.

Chong gave us another piece of good news — that another female — Selina — had given birth between Oct 2 and 9.

She was last seen on Oct 2 and when she returned to the feeding platform on Oct 9, she had a male baby with her.

The SWC management decided that Oct 6 was the most likely date of birth.

“For our work here, we don’t monitor the orangutans by inserting chips. We just let them roam wild within the reserve area. They are allowed to move freely and even venture further into the nearby forest reserves.

“The feedings we have been providing are not meant to keep them alive — they’re supplementary to their natural diet just in case they cannot find food in the forest,” Chong said.

With the two recent births, there are now 28 free-ranging orangutans at SNR. Of these, 17 were born at the Reserve.

Six females among this group have produced multiple offspring at a roughly five-year interval whereas those in their natural habitat are on record as having given birth at an interval of eight years.

We also learned that Delima, the mother of Selina, liked to stay close to her mother, and like mother like daughter, Selina too likes to stay close to Delima, and tends to make small wailing noises when asking for food.

Noticing her somewhat affected nature, the Centre has dubbed her the Little Drama Queen.

Grand old lady

While all the orangutans may look the same to the casual visitors, the staff, including Chong, can accurately identify each of them. They can recognise all the primates and call them by their names.

What’s even more amazing is the orangutans respond when their names are called as shown by our encounter with one of them.

While exiting the Visitors’ Centre with Chong after the interview, we suddenly heard him calling out Ku, Ku.

He pointed to an orangutan sitting on a podium cut out from a tree trunk, usually used by the staff to brief visitors before feeding started.

Caught unawares, we were shocked as we stood there, staring at the object of our curiosity. We were told it was Seduku, the oldest female at the Centre.

Seduku, dubbed the grand old lady, sat with both feet up, staring into the space, not unlike an old bored granny.

If not for Chong, we might not even have noticed her or might have just walked by, thinking she was a wooden carving.

Chong told us to hold on to our mineral water bottles with a reminder not to give them to Seduku whom he calls Ku, following the practice of the natives of Sarawak in addressing someone familiar with the last syllable of his or her name.

He then rushed to a nearby office block and returned with a tray containing two bunches of bananas and a pineapple. He placed the fruits under the nearest tree across the road, urging Ku to go and get them.

“Ku, go for the fruits. Ku, Ku, go for the fruits,” he coaxed.

Seduku responded, taking her time getting off the podium to cautiously cross the road towards the fruits.

“If Ku is around, her son Ganya must be nearby,” Chong surmised.

We searched with our eyes and true enough, Gonya was about three metres away, hanging from a branch. As amazed as we already were by Seduku’s response to human call, Chong piqued our sense of wonderment further with another demonstration.

By this time, we had moved about five metres away from Seduku who had her back to us. Chong called out to her. She turned to look in our direction with a fixated stare as if anticipating a response from us.

When nothing happened, she turned to her original pursuit — the fruits under the tree — and lumbered over for a hearty meal.

We got goose bumps watching how she interacted with us.

So uncannily human-like!

Seduku and family

Seduku is the grandmother of Analisa’s newborn. She was named Seduku because she was rescued from Kampung Seduku, a small fishing village on Seduku Island, near Lingga, Sri Aman.

She was dubbed the grand old lady because she is the oldest female at SNR. This venerable matriach of the great apes at the Reserve has been known to be friendly, playful and fond of going after Delima, another female, during their swinging sprees.

Seduku gave birth to Analisa, Saddamiah as well as Ganya who is still very attached to her and follows her everywhere.

Analisa, the first female born in SNR, has, in turn, given birth to three offspring — Anaku, Digital Gura and her latest baby, yet to be named.

Analisa’s eldest — Anaku — was born in the wild at SNR in December 2006. Monikered the fearless one, Anaku is known for his climbing prowess. Unlike his uncle, Ganya, who is still clinging to mama Seduku, Anaku is independent, and has, since young, been swinging from tree to tree on his own.

Analisa’s daughter, Digital Guro, was born in 2012. She died in November 2015 at the age of three from natural causes. So Analisa is left with Anaku and the newborn.

Limiting human intervention

There are two daily feeding sessions — 9am to 10am and 3pm to 4pm — where visitors are allowed to come and watch.

“What we are feeding the orangutans here are just dietary supplements. We don’t want them to stress over food and fight among themselves or because of the lack of food, they start going into nearby villages and disturb the fruit gardens.

“Their main meals are still found in the jungles around SNR. They can feed on figs, jackfruits, rotan fruits, leaves as well as sprouts like bamboo shoots,” Chong explained.

He said the fruit supplements provided by SWC cost about RM5,000 a month, adding that on average, about half of the orangutans regularly fed at the Reserve.

During feeding sessions, visitors are not allowed to stay beyond the specified times to ensure the orangutans have the least possible contact with human beings.

“We try not to get too close to them. They are so like us that we don’t want them to start behaving like us. We want them to be their natural self,” Chong said.

SWC started as a rehab centre for orangutans and other protected animals which had been injured, orphaned or illegally kept as pets. It received the first orangutan in 1979 and since then, the number has been growing.

Due to its successful rehabilitation efforts, SWC has now been turned into an orangutan research centre, catering for local and as well as foreign scholars and researchers.

However, with only 653 ha, SNR has become rather congested. The male orangutans are by nature territorial. Some aggressive males such as the one called Aman had to be transferred to Kubah National Park (where Matang Wildlife Centre is located) to avoid ferocious fights for space and mates.

On the average, SWC receives 150 to 200 visitors per day while during peak months like July and August as well as school holidays, the numbers may rise to 400 to 500. Foreigners take up 40 per cent of the total.

As conservation of animals is expensive, SWC has come up with an Adopting Orangutan Programme where individuals can adopt an orangutan for one year by contributing RM200 while for the corporate sector, it’s from RM10,000 per year.

“All proceeds will go towards funding conservation. The participants will be given a certificate,” Chong said.

The orangutan is an endangered species endemic only to the Borneo Island with only 2,000 to 2,500 in Sarawak.

SWC is committed to ensuring their survival through preservation and conservation.