Bornean Orangutan Exhibit

Photo taken 12/07/2020.

Bornean orangutan:

1.0 Charlie (21/03/1981)

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Great photo!

@steveroberts Thank you! The exhibit had recently opened and was no doubt a source of novelty to the orangutans, who were highly active this day. Hopefully expanding the exhibit with the aerial pathways will sustain their engagement with it.

Seems like a pretty well structured enclosure. Does the orang have access to the trees?

@David Matos Mendes Sure do. Follow a line south west from the male orangutan; and you can see one of the females through the branches, sitting on a platform in the trees.

Charlie and Melur also spent a lot of time on this platform on my last visit: Bornean Orangutan Exhibit - ZooChat
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@Zoofan15
Wow, that's pretty nice. There are unfortunately very few institutions that allow orangutans to climb living trees. Also, it's great that these individuals seem to past more time in the branches and platforms than in the ground, just like they would do in the wild.

@David Matos Mendes It’s an amazing exhibit; and such a vast improvement on the old exhibit (built 1987), which consisted of a handful of platforms in a grass paddock.

Bornean male orangutans supposedly spend a lot of time on the ground; but given the opportunity, Charlie has been arboreal on 90% of my visits.

Have you seen the high ropes? Charlie on the Aerial Pathway - ZooChat

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@Zoofan15
So this exhibit has even more climbing structures.... I would consider it one of the best, if not the best orangutan exhibit I have ever seen. It's very rare to see trees, enough climbing structures and enough space in an enclosure for this species, and this one seems to have all of them...

@David Matos Mendes It is rare to find a site with trees that are both large enough for orangs to climb and not quickly destroy, and also trees that are non-toxic.
But orangs in trees in the first few years of an exhibit it the easy part. The proof of concept will come in a few years as the condition of the trees is evaluated

@Zooplantman
Yes, I agree with you. Hope they don't damage the trees too much in the following years. The exhibit seems to be enough enriched, to make them have other things to worry about...