"Babysitters" at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation and Rescue Project escort one of the apes away from visitors to the campus. Since its inception, the group has saved about 600 orphaned orangutans, giving them food, shelter and health care.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Heru, one of the technicians at Nyaru Menteng, watches over young orangutans playing on seesaws. A century ago, Borneo had over 300,000 wild orangutans. Today, the number has fallen to around 50,000.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
An orangutan enjoys some of the play area equipment at Nyaru Menteng. Some experts wonder whether orangutans raised by humans will be able to survive back in the forest.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
A young orangutan holds a leafy branch over its head during afternoon playtime. When they are released into the wild, tiny radio transmitters will be placed under the apes' skin to monitor their movements.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Lone Droscher-Nielsen gets an embrace from one of the apes in her sanctuary. She is the founder of Nyaru Metang, the world's largest primate rescue effort.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
An ape grasps a piece of fruit. The orangutan is one of mankind's closest cousins in the animal kingdom, sharing around 97 % of the same DNA as humans.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Young orangutans play in a sandbox filled with tree shavings during afternoon socialization at Nyaru Menteng.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
An orangutan is speckled with tree shavings after playing in the sandbox.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Adult orangutans play during social hour in the main compound. The animals spend much of the day in a nearby peatland forest that is off limits to loggers and palm oil farmers.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Droscher-Nielsen plays with one of the orangutans. She initially hoped to start returning orangutans to the wild years ago but, as forests kept retreating, it became increasingly difficult to find a safe place to put them.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
An orangutan clings to a rope on a playground at Nyaru Menteng.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Sanctuary employees give dried fruit to the apes. Not all the orangutans are fed by humans; some have to retrieve their food from high trees to prepare them for life on their own in the forest.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Orangutans learn how to forage for honey as part of their rehabilitation. Workers put honey in log holes to entice them to forage.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
An orangutan enjoys nibbling on a branch at Nyaru Menteng. Another problem with re-releasing the captive apes is that they do not fear humans the way wild apes do. "They'll walk up and ransack houses.," says Droscher-Nielsen. "Wild ones would never do that. They would just run away."
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Hamsie, a Nyaru Menteng employee, watches over orangutans during their socialization hour. The sanctuary has a staff of about 200 people.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
An orangutan grasps the hand of one of the human caretakers.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Wheelbarrows are used to take young orangutans back to their cages for the night. To survive in the wild, the apes will have to forget their pampered lifestyle.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Adult orangutans are ushered back to their cages to sleep for the night. Their sleeping area is separate from that of the young orangutans.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Siska, left, a veterinarian who like many Indonesians goes by one name, gives a four-year-old orangutan an injection to control diarrhea and stomach inflammation while caretaker Srihayati holds the animal in her lap.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
A young orangutan receives a human's touch. Some experts worry that captive apes, when released into the wild, might bring diseases caught during their exposure to humans that will harm their kin that never left the jungle.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
A young orangutan eats fruit during afternoon socialization on the Nyaru Menteng grounds.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
A young orangutan munches on lychee fruit while being cuddled by a caretaker.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Young orangutans are transported around the sanctuary in wheelbarrows. The food, medicines, salaries and other expenses required to keep them at Nyaru Menteng total around $2,000 per ape every year.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Orangutans learn how to forage for honey as part of their rehabilitation.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Droscher-Nielsen hugs one of the animals her organization has rescued. She founded Nyaru Menteng in 1999 with only 35 rescued organgutans.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
There is a debate among scientists and conservationists over whether protecting apes in captivity will contribute to the long-term survival of the species. The main focus, some say, should be on protecting forests and the wild apes that live in them.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Two orangutans play together during afternoon socialization at Nyaru Menteng.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Caretaker Erinawati prepares to take a young orangutan to the veterinary clinic for its shots.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Orangutans lounge together in the grass during their social hour. When they are released in the wild, Droscher-Nielsen says it will take a couple of generations for bad habits picked up in captivity to be completely purged.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
One of the many apes that lives at Nyaru Menteng. Another 400 or so orangutans are being cared for in other rehabilitation centers elsewhere in Borneo.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
One of the caretakers at Nyaru Menteng makes faces at an adult orangutan during playtime.
Linda Davidson-The Washington Post
Gallery Credits:
Producer, Photo Editor Stephen Cook
Text Editor Sarah Halzack, Liz Heron
