30 SEP 08

So much to write about, but so little time!
We’ve just spent three days in Sukau working with the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project, with whom we’re working on our project. After speaking with Marc and Mislin, who we’ll be working with, we now have a much clearer idea of what we’re studying and have some data to start fiddling with. It’s basically to do with what orangutans eat in degraded forest, which can later be used to see how they adapt to living in forests that have been affected by commercial logging. Obviously, this is quite important stuff when you consider that in the Kinabatangan area alone, there are only 50,000ha of forest left. In the last twenty years, 80% has been converted to oil palm agriculture. There are very few remaining primary forest areas left for the orangutan to inhabit, but as this case shows, it’s possible for them to live in secondary forest and it’s important for us to understand how this changes their lifestyle.

We spent a couple of mornings with Azli and Adyt who have been following an orangutan named ‘Julaina’ and her three year old daughter, to understand the techniques involved in getting the data. We then jumped at the chance when asked whether we wanted to follow for a whole day. We left at 0530 and returned at 1900, noting down her behaviour throughout the day. We also had the chance to work with the nest survey team who monitor the state of orangutan nests over several months. It’s useful to know what types of trees are chosen by orangutans to nest in as well as which trees provide their food supplies in order to create effective conservation plans. Bam and Mislin then kindly took us down the river to see new orangutan bridges in action. There was a group of macaques using one bridge as we passed, sat happily grooming above the water, and I think it may well only be a matter of time before a curious orangutan or two give it a try. In forest that’s fragmented as much as it is in this area, ways of allowing the orangutans to travel and encounter other orangutans are extremely important, especially from a genetic point of view.

It’s also Hari Raya tomorrow – the end of the fasting month, so I’ve got to go and make some decorations to make it a bit more special for the people that have to work here tomorrow. It’s the equivalent of Christmas in the Islamic year, so it’s not very nice to be at work for it. Chloe’s got plans to make a ridiculous amount of cakes, so all should be fairly well!
Rachel