Come March 2012 [edit: July 2012], I shall embark on a quest to the South Pacific, trekking into the jungles of an Indonesian isle in search of the elusive Pongo pygmaeus, commonly known as the wild orangutan. In all likelihood, this majestic beast shall be readily found, since it has been studied in this particular swath of jungle swamp for the past eight years by the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project. But still a daring adventure it shall be!
Upon arrival at the Setia Alam Base Camp in the Sabangau Forest near Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan (enough big words?), I shall spend most of my waking hours researching the behavioral ecology & population dynamics of our big red cousins. The current plan is to stay for six months before returning home, but who knows if the lure of the verdant jungle shall keep its grasp on me for longer. Some of the gallivanting to be done includes:
Upon arrival at the Setia Alam Base Camp in the Sabangau Forest near Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan (enough big words?), I shall spend most of my waking hours researching the behavioral ecology & population dynamics of our big red cousins. The current plan is to stay for six months before returning home, but who knows if the lure of the verdant jungle shall keep its grasp on me for longer. Some of the gallivanting to be done includes:
- Following individual orangutans to learn of their feeding behavior, energetics, & health; to learn of their social networks, relatedness, communication, & dispersal.
- Surveying forest fruiting & flowering patterns; surveying forest productivity.
- Surveying orangutan nest density.
- Biodiversity surveying of various taxonomic groups (birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates)
