The Project
Volunteer with Orang-utans In Sumatra

This type of orang-utan research has never been conducted before in Indonesia, yet is crucial in completing the jigsaw of behaviours among our closest living relatives, the great apes. The Indonesian island of Sumatra has stunning landscapes ranging from vast mountains to lowland rainforest, and is the home to species such as the giant flying squirrel, Sumatran elephant and dancing lemur.

It isn’t easy learning to be an orang-utan. The rainforest is teeming with plants, insects and many types of fruits, and it takes years for a youngster to learn what is good or bad to eat, and more importantly, what to take for indigestion or illness. Many people tend to think that wild animals such as orang-utans have natural immunity to diseases in their environment, but this is not the case – they are just as susceptible to microbes and parasites as are humans. Unbelievably, like humans, it appears that they take medicine in the form of medicinal plants to treat their illnesses, and the new finding that apes use plants to treat a ‘dodgy gut’ is overflowing with questions about how they know which plants to select for which ailments.

New areas of the forest are constantly being opened to development and human contact. We are introducing new parasites, viruses and diseases into the forest, as well as bringing new ones out of it, raising questions of whether orang-utans are suffering from these human diseases and whether they have already found treatments for them. This is where we come in. Having already found wild orang-utans to be generally healthier than those who have spent their entire lives in captivity, or have been rehabilitated and reintroduced to their forest home, Ivona Foitova wants to learn from the orang-utans why this should be – what are they eating or doing differently? It is hoped that we will be able to understand ways of dealing with illnesses in one of our closest living relatives.

As a volunteer, your participation is invaluable. The data you collect is vital to further our understanding of these magnificent animals and your financial contribution offsets a significant proportion of our costs (employing local experts, running lab analyses etc). Without the support of our volunteers the project would simply not have been able to reach the stage it is at today. This support is vital to the continuing success of the project’s work.

You will have a once in a lifetime chance to see primary rainforest in one of the most beautiful areas in the world. If that isn’t enough, you will be within viewing distance of the most graceful primates on earth (physical contact is not allowed) in their natural habitat. The importance of our work cannot be emphasised enough. It brings knowledge to basic science, public health, wildlife conservation management, and it will hopefully help to save both flora and fauna.