Have you ever wondered what the orangutans eat at our rescue and rehabilitation centres? Rest assured they eat very well!
Providing nourishing and interesting food is of the utmost importance to orangutans undergoing their rehabilitation journey. Thanks to our generous donors, the Orangutan Project can purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, tempeh, and other items to keep the orangutans in our care healthy and strong. Orangutans need a well-balanced and varied diet to stay in good health and have enough strength and energy to undertake Jungle School where they develop their forest skills including climbing and foraging.
Popi is very excited to be digging into this ginormous fruit from the Araceae family whilst out at Jungle School
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the orangutan keepers at our BORA centre enjoyed taking turns going to the local market twice a week to shop for orangutan food. However, currently, a logistics staff member is now responsible for this task once a week to reduce the contact that orangutan keepers have with other people to protect the orangutans as much as possible from COVID-19. Much of the orangutans’ diet at our BORA centre is fruit including bananas, pineapples, papaya, tomatoes, rambutans and a range of other local Indonesian fruits.
This gorgeous video shows Happi at our Bornean Orangutan Rescue Alliance (BORA) rescue centre in East Kalimantan feasting on a local fruit called cempedak whilst out at Jungle School.
Vegetables include long beans, carrots, corn, sweet potato, and eggplant. The orangutans also receive boiled eggs twice a week and tempeh once a week for protein. In the wild, orangutans eat termites to ensure they eat enough protein. In the morning, the keepers also look for suitable leaves in the nearby forest for the orangutans. Leaves are an important part of wild orangutans’ diets, especially in the dry season.
The staff at BORA greatly enjoy preparing meals and enrichment for the orangutans
Orangutan keepers weigh out the food for each orangutan based on their body weight and activity levels. The orangutans receive their food at different times during the day. A large portion of their allocated food is hand fed to the orangutans to ensure they receive the correct amount. Some of the food is put in various enrichment puzzle feeders where the orangutans must work to get the food out. This is excellent for the orangutans’ mental health as it keeps them busy. It also provides opportunities to problem solve when it comes to foraging and this will assist them in the wild when they need to access hard to reach food sources.
The orangutan keepers write up a weekly menu for the orangutans and the orangutans enjoy receiving food in new and interesting ways
Some of the favourite enrichment given to the orangutans include puzzle feeders that have a drizzle of honey in them and whole coconuts. Whole coconuts keep the orangutans busy for a long time as they work hard to peel the coconut and break it open without losing the delicious coconut water. Check out the coconut feast in this video.