Mama Tata and Tata to be released

This mother and baby orangutan were rescued in 2006, around oil palm plantation in Sampit, Central Kalimantan.  At that time, Mama Tata was 15 years old and her baby, Tata was only 4 years old.  During their original rescue, our team was not involved and the people attempting to rescue had no knowledge of orangutans and no proper equipment to safely rescue these two, hence both mother and baby arrived at Nyaru Menteng in a very poor condition.  Following months of care both orangutans were restored to perfect health.  These are wild orangutans who do not like humans, and having arrived with us in such sorry conditions, this is unsurprising.

Mama Tata is now 21 years old (and 47 kg) while her baby, Tata is now a strapping teenager around 10 years old (20.2 kg).  Both Mama Tata and Tata have been living together full time, except during the period of quarantine which every orangutan must complete to ensure their good health, and we will be releasing them together.  We hope this mother and son stay together in the forest, at least for a short time so Tata can be reminded of all the wild foods he used to eat!

Both of them will be released back to the forest on March 31st, 2012 and we’ll be carefully observing their progress.