Yesterday while setting up butterfly traps on transect 1.6 we were again visited by orangutans, this time by a group of seven individuals! Southern Bornean orangutans are generally solitary animals but can occasionally travel in small family groups, however it is very unusual to find seven together and we think that this is the largest group ever recorded in the Sabangau forest.
The first individual was a large male travelling close to the ground and bending over trees as he walked. He was closely followed by Gracia, a relatively unhabituated female with a young dependent infant (see video 1). She was very aggressive towards us, throwing branches, shaking the trees and making many ‘kiss-squeak’ vocalisations. In this video you can also see her cupping her hand over her mouth to make the vocalisations louder.
In the middle of her display we were joined by a juvenile orangutan of about 10 years of age, likely to be Gracia’s previous infant (see video 2).
When both moved away were were joined by another female, with a 2/3 year old baby and mischievous male juvenile (video 3), passing over our heads and making a lot of noise. While watching them we spotted a lone gibbon passing to our east before starting up a brief alarm call. And finally, throughout the afternoon we heard a series of long-calls following them at about 200m, so it’s likely there was an eighth orangutan in the area as well.
Looks like transect 1.6 is the place to be right now!
Nick M
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