Data sheet

A data sheet filled in by orangutan researcher Helen Morrogh-Bernard as she followed a male orangutan named Beethoven through the Sebangau Forest in 2005. As this sheet reveals, waiting is an integral part of orangutan follows, giving researchers time to do other things, such as scribbling or writing poems.

Read 'Surprise' - a poem by Helen Morrogh-Bernard

Surprise

Soaked to the bone,
I’m cold and wet.
Then an appearance is made,
and out comes the sun, I have a chance to dry.
Indah is feeding on inverts galore,
and Indy is somewhere swinging around.
Then suddenly a family of gibbons appear,
flying high through the canopy above.
What a sight,
I forget I’m cold.

Helen writes: ‘Written on 5th March 2005 while following Indah and Indy, a mother-offspring pair. It was the middle of the rainy season and the forest was very wet. After waking from their nest, they had settled to feed in a big fruiting tree. As I had fallen in the swamp on my way to the nest, I was very wet and cold, but as the light from the morning sun shone through the canopy, this was a welcome sight and a privilege to see a group of gibbons pass so close by. It is always so special to see other wildlife when out on a follow. Every day is different, and it makes one forget how hard follows can sometimes be when you are tired and wet’.