Orangutans. Their name literally translates to “jungle man.” They’re one of our closest living relatives as a species.
Here on the island of Borneo, home to some 50,000, they run wild. This is where the television show Orangutan Island is filmed. So it’s no surprise that you run into orangutans in the rainforest — sometimes almost literally. Or the other way around, which can be frightening to both you and the orangutan.
The number of orangutans on Borneo is decreasing—by some 5,000 per year– due to land encroachment: developments for housing, industry, agriculture and transportation. This sends the orangutans scrambling for new homes. Some end up on reserves. There they feel comfortable and secure. That is until humans arrive for visits. Then it’s an insightful microcosm of what must be occurring in the wild.
Walk down a path and a flash of fur disappears behind a tree. Walk farther along and hear noise above. Curiosity perches orangutans on trees to look down at you. Then feel some drops on your head. Orangutans tend to pee on you when you walk underneath them as they swing from tree to tree.
“They’re just playing,” my guide assures.
Then I step in front of one. Or he steps in front of me. A pregnant pause. Then he gives chase.
“Just playing…,” my guide says again, as I peel off.
But earlier this year an orangutan bit someone.
“It happens. Tourists. They give the orangutan a banana and then try to take it away,” my guide says.
Orangutans are often referred to as the Buddhists of the jungle. But I’ve never met a Buddhist who bites.
Until now.
Thomas M. Kostigen is The New York Times bestselling coauthor of