Beda was confiscated from a family living in Tumbang Jutuh. They got her from loggers further up river and named her Beda, which means different in Indonesian. She was less than a year old, skinny and very frightened when the team from Nyaru Menteng rescued her. The children had been rough when they played with her; pulling her arms and flicking her little nose.
Beda bloomed from the moment she arrived at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project. On her first day she climbed high up into the trees and now only comes down for food and a good nights sleep. She has lots of forest skills and is an accomplished nest builder. Beda drags many items into her nests to make them more comfortable for her afternoon naps. She also enjoys playing and climbing in the treetops, but is still a little nervous about the groups of mischievous macaque monkeys that sometimes come to visit. When they come too close, Beda rushes down to cling to the legs of the baby caretakers until the macaques leave again and she can return to the green leaves where she feels at home.
Beda is the renowned tomboy that loves to get the babysitters into trouble. A good sign of her independence and great preparation for her return to the wild is that she loves to spend the night in the forest rather than her enclosure. Beda is a determined individual and a fast learner. She learns new skills quickly, but gets easily bored when she satisfies her curiosity. She enjoys her playtime with her orangutan friends except when they pull out each other’s hair.