meet our infant orangutan orphans

Name: carlos
Sex: male
Arrival date: 6th February, 2004
On arrival: 2.7 kg
Approximate age: 1.5 years (on arrival)
Previous history: Brought in by a logger

Carlos was a very skinny and scruffy infant when he arrived at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project in a small, wooden box. He weighed only 2.7 kilograms, despite being over a year old. Carlos had been kept as a pet in Parenggean where his owner’s fed him rice. Most of the forests of Parenggean have been cleared for palm oil plantations. These large plantations are decimating Indonesia’s forests and are one of the biggest threats to orangutan survival today. Carlos is now a big boy, weighing a little over 10kg. He is very cheeky and determined and loves to play in the forest. As soon as Carlos is awake and has had his milk, he is ready to explore the outside world. He often escapes the hands of the baby caretakers as he tries to unlock the door of his sleeping quarters. Carlos eventually gives up and takes his place in one of the baskets, in which the infants are carried to the forest. Impatiently he sits there, with a look on his face as if he wants to say; “Can you hurry up a bit, can’t you see I am waiting?”.