Always Looking Up
One of our ETV students, Alex, has traveled to Borneo to participate in a program sponsored by Miami University of Ohio and the Cincinnati Zoo. And guess what? He’s keeping a blog about his adventures. His major is primatology with a minor in global sustainability and conservation. He will be studying several species that are endemic to Borneo including, as he describes it, ‘the elusive Tarsier’. Things for Alex are looking up, and so is he, into the trees where, according to his blog, he’s found an orangutan. Read more below and on his blog.
So I am at the Danu Girang Field Centre in Borneo. You could look it up on a map, but you wouldn’t find it. Just check out the giant forest there on google maps, I’m in there.Internet access is limited, and I am really shocked we have been able to use it. It has been humid and extremely warm, and I mean WARM. Generally within several minutes of work I am sweaty. We have been extremely busy. I wake up around 5 am or sometimes 6 and typically retire around 10, sometimes earlier. There is no air conditioning at all, and the power goes out around 11 P.M. This means no fans, so ideally you should try to fall asleep before 11. Once you get used to the heat it is actually not that noticeable unless you’re busy doing something and you’re gonna sweat buckets.
Last night I heard of an orang in the area so I went to survey the trees. I found some possibilities for where it might have built its nest. This morning I was outside by 5:30 looking for its nest. The best way to find them is to locate where they sleep at night and then arrive early to track them. After waiting for a while and walking in the general area, LOW AND BEHOLD THERE WAS AN ORANGUTAN!!
Find out what happened next and read more of Alex’s adventures on his blog, Borneo Research.
