He and Jaya were having a wonderful time wrestling - a ball of orangutans rolling along the top of the island I noticed then, and on another occasion, that Jaya was holding Jiwa's finger in his mouth so that Jiwa had to go along with him. Who is Jiwa going to play with when Jaya leaves?
Holding a finger in the mouth is a dominance thing in this group, Dagu does it to the others when they are getting unruly. The amount of apes and ape-keepers (none of ours at present however) that are missing fingers seems to suggest that it is a common tactic.
Unfortunately, Jaya is getting rather a handful and even showing the start of cheek pads... he needs some females of his own, which is on the cards now! Jiwa will doubtless miss him, as savagely as they appear to wrestle. Jantho will be a playmate in a couple of years though!
I haven't noticed any of them doing that, but I will watch out and ask the keepers. The thing with orangs, is that they seem to develop cultures of their own if kept in groups like this. There's been a number of studies done, I believe... I'll have a look.
I've got photos of both Gina and Dagu hiding their faces when I pointed the camera at them. Another example of a culture? And does it imply that they understand what we're doing - or perhaps they're copying us as we cover our faces with cameras?
I've got photos of both Gina and Dagu hiding their faces when I pointed the camera at them. Another example of a culture? And does it imply that they understand what we're doing - or perhaps they're copying us as we cover our faces with cameras?
Sorry for the delayed response here, have been rather busy. Dagu, like many male apes, doesn't like being looked at for lengthy periods... it's almost a challenge to him, and one that he is impotent to respond to. Orangutans are conscious enough to realise that displaying is in vain, and just a waste of energy in the case of photographers.
One of the reasons we have hessian sacks scattered, off display areas above the sky tunnels to and from the Islands and have recently placed camo net and ghillie stuff (sorry, don't know the real term!) on the windows, is to let Dagu 'choose' when he's 'confronted'. Not ideal from a vistor attraction perspective, but - orangs being such individual animals - we have 'Netty' (Anette) who is more than happy to have her pic taken (and loves being shown the results... also easily recognises herself!) and Jaya who will deliberately clown around if he sees you looking at him!
An example of orang thoughtfulness and learned behavior - Jaya will undo the pole clamps if he can. He has realised that a keeper will 'swap' the clamp for a walnut. Then his mother (Gina) showed him that if he dismantles the clamp further, he will get a nut for each part (orangutan commerce?), so he will take things into as many pieces as possible now!
Dana followed suit, and now we have the unfortunate effects of 'the invisble hand of the market' in our orang community... unfortunate in that anything they get hold of is 'asset stripped for profit'...
I feel rather guilty for persisting with my camera now Your orangs are very lucky in having such knowledgeable keepers who respond to their individual needs.
You can't help but be amazed by the ingenuity of orangs. I've seen those at Paignton bringing stones into the showden and handing them over for carrots. On occasion, I've willed them to hang on to their 'currency' which could provide them with hours of fun dismantling their house Not good for the keepers, but great viewing for us! My namesake used to collect sticks so that she could remove the sealant from around the windows and was working on chiselling a bolt from the wall before her untimely death.
I showed Anette a mirror on my recent visit. It was an education for the other visitors when she looked in it and patted her hair down
