Bio

Chocolate was confiscated from villagers in Southwest Aceh. He was very thin, with dry skin and dull, wiry hair. By chance, his confiscation coincided with the presence of a film crew from NBC in the USA, and Paul Hilton, a well known photographer based in Hong Kong, so the whole process was well documented. Both were in the area covering a spate of recent fires in the nearby Tripa peat swamp forests, from where Chocolate without doubt originates. He was named Chocolate, as someone stopped at a roadside store to buy some chocolate, and was then informed during discussions with locals about an orangutan for sale, hence the name…

Chocolate has now been introduced to another young infant male orangutan, named ‘Pandu’, from Kutacane in South East Aceh. At first Chocolate seemed not so interested in ‘Pandu’, and ‘Pandu’ seemed a little afraid of his new room-mate. But after a month they were much happier and were often seen playing together.