Sarikei and Iznee

Bornean orang utans, Realm of the Red Ape, Chester, 13th June 2009
Sarikei is truly brachiating here - swinging along using only her arms. Orangs generally climb quadrumanously, by holding on with three limbs and moving the fourth.
Sarikei always holds Iznee\'s hand between her lips when she moves.

gentle lemur said:

Bornean orang utans, Realm of the Red Ape, Chester, 13th June 2009
Sarikei is truly brachiating here - swinging along using only her arms. Orangs generally climb quadrumanously, by holding on with three limbs and moving the fourth.
Sarikei always holds Iznee\'s hand between her lips when she moves.

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I have seen her just use one arm to hold onto Iznee and climb with her legs and other arm.

Interesting how she holds the baby's hand in her mouth. A way of maintaining contact when her arms are being used for climbing? Orangutan babies can grasp the mother's hair without any support right from birth whereas Gorilla newborns need more support as their clinging response is not so strong in the early months.

Pertinax said:

Interesting how she holds the baby's hand in her mouth. A way of maintaining contact when her arms are being used for climbing? Orangutan babies can grasp the mother's hair without any support right from birth whereas Gorilla newborns need more support as their clinging response is not so strong in the early months.

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I have watched S and I on two days, for about two and a half hours in all, and every time that she has moved - climbing or walking - she has deliberately taken his hand in this way. He doesn't seem to have any particular difficulty in hanging on, so I guess this is just an idiosyncrasy of hers. Or does anyone know better?

Alan

gentle lemur said:

so I guess this is just an idiosyncrasy of hers.

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that's exactly what I would describe it as.

is this her first baby, I can't remember?

Pertinax said:

that's exactly what I would describe it as.

is this her first baby, I can't remember?

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I don't think it is, I believe she gave birth 13 years ago. BongoRob will know

taun said:

I don't think it is, I believe she gave birth 13 years ago. BongoRobwill know

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You are correct, she had a son a number of years ago, not sure exactly how many, but 13 sounds about right. His name escapes me.

I knew I had stumbled across Sarikei`s first son the last days and have just checked the orang utan studbook from 2007 - his name is Matu, born 1995, and he lives in Kristiansand/Norway since 2004. He lived there with a female named Sol, born 1996, until very recently, because just a few weeks ago she was sent to Vienna to live in the new enclosure and hopefully breed with Vienna`s male Vladimir. I don`t know if this means Matu is infertile, though. Hopefully he just didn`t like SOl and will breed with another female in the future. At the moment, it seems he lives solitary.

how did you get hold of the orang studbook ?

I have a friend who had it (no idea how he got it) and made a copy. Sorry that I can`t help.