All language subtitles for Orangutan Diary Series 1 4of5_Subtitles01.ENG

Last time on Orangutan Diary,
orphans Ellie and Grendon

were in danger
when an unwelcome guest
gate-crashed their forest lessons.

I was out on the road with
a rescue team and saved another baby
from a future in captivity.

Back at the centre, little Lomon
was making some real progress.

But it was the birth of a baby
that left us all holding our breath.

The Borneo Orangutan
Survival Foundation's single aim

is to ensure a wild future
for endangered orangutans.

All find a safe home here,
from babies forcibly taken
from their mothers,

to wild adults
made homeless by deforestation.

It's hoped that eventually, they'll
all be put back into the wild.

For the youngest, like our baby
born yesterday,

that's going to be
at least six years in the future.

However, one of the centre's
biggest inhabitants is about
to get his first taste of freedom.

Hey, Zorro!

Isn't he beautiful?

I think the big males
really do it for me.

I think they're just
absolutely stunning

and Zorro is a cracking-looking
fellow, isn't he?

Zorro's time has come.

He's finally going out to the island.

This stereotypical behaviour
that he does, this spinning round

is all to do with the fact that he's
been kept so confined all his life.

Just how well is he going
to adapt to being out of this cage?

This is all he has ever known
since he was a child.

And we know that he hasn't climbed
a tree since he was with his mum.

Before Zorro was rescued
by Lone and her team,

he was kept illegally
as a pet for 13 miserable years.

Ooh, hello, Zorro, what was that?

That was strange, wasn't it, big man?

When you wake up, it's going
to be somewhere very, very different.

Got hold of that still.

There we go.

Oh, God,

he is a big lad.

Look at the length of those arms!

That's amazing!

Ooh, hello.
Ooh, he's still a bit awake.

He doesn't know what's going on.

Being transported in a wheelbarrow
seems somewhat undignified
for such a magnificent animal

but we need to get him to his
new home as quickly as possible.

Homes for orangutans in Borneo
are getting hard to come by.

Scientists predict that if nothing
is done to halt the destruction
of the rainforests,

orangutans will become extinct
within ten years.

The centre constantly battles
to give rescued orangutans
a second chance.

A vital part of the rehabilitation
process is teaching the younger ones

all of the skills
they'll need to survive in the wild.

With classes just beginning
out in Forest School One,

I'm going to check up on a very
special orphan, Lomon.

I reckon the star pupil
of Forest Group One,

who definitely gets the
medal for improvement, is Lomon.

Look at him, Mr Independent.

He's off out into the forest
looking for his own food.

And actually, it's remarkable
the way he's finding stuff to eat.

He hasn't been shown a lot
of these plants,

which suggests that maybe
he remembers them from being
with his mum in the wild.

It's been amazing
to watch his progress.

He was so shy and so introverted
and so thin,

not eating or drinking
anything and now look at him.

He's out, he's on his own,
he's moving around.

Got to get you climbing
a bit more next, haven't we?

I know you're not supposed
to have a favourite, but...

there's something about Lomon,
he's such a character,
he's such an individual.

With Zorro under sedation,
we can now safely ferry
him to his new home.

I'm travelling out
with Lone Droscher-Neilson,
the director of the centre.

The islands lie
a few miles down river.

They're the last stage
in the rehabilitation process.

Apart from two
food deliveries a day,

the orangutans here are left
completely to their own devices.

Most of the islands inhabitants
tend to be orphans that have
grown up at the centre,

but Zorro is a different case.

Even though he's a fully grown
adult, he's never had the chance
to live in the forest.

He's been trapped in a cage
ever since he was a tiny baby.

We've no idea how he's going to
react when he feels all that space
and fresh air around him.

Lone, why do you put them
on the feeding platforms?

You know, sometimes they
sit on that feeding platform
and think that's their new cage.

Ah, OK. I suppose that makes sense
because this will be the point
he explores from,

so he'll always know this is home
to start off with,

until he gets used to it.

But they're so different.
We had Mama Mosey,

who sat on that feeding platform
thinking it was her cage.

She didn't move,
like the floor was her cage

though there were no bars.
How long did she stay there?

About three days.
But then she started...

Then she started to climb
trees and back again.

We've had some that has been
in captivity for 12 years,

you put them out and they're
off in the trees immediately,

and others that just
can't figure it out. Yeah.

It's incredible to think that
when Zorro regains consciousness,

it'll be the first time
he's seen a forest in 13 years.

In Forest School One, the orangutans
are continuing to learn skills

that will one day allow them to live
independent lives in the wild.

The perseverance with the climbing
lessons for Lomon continues.

Now, we know that Lomon
just eats a lot now, so,

we put some oranges
on the end of a stick,

Lomon, Lomon! And we try
to encourage him up the tree.

But Lomon is not a stupid orangutan

and he knows there's some very
easy ones on the ground in here.

Lomon, come, Lomon,

look, Kesi will show you how.

Lomon, look, watch Kesi.

Up we go with the oranges. Kesi.

And with her one arm, look at that!

No problem.

Lomon, tree, climb, come!

Kesi has really come along since
she's been at Forest School One.

Despite losing one of her hands
before she was rescued,

she climbs like a natural and loves
playing with her classmates.

It's great to see how Kesi,
Lomon and the other orphans here

have really thrived on the love and
attention given by the babysitters.

It's amazing! We may not be able
to get Lomon to climb,

but he is showing an interest
in nest-building.

I know it's not a very good nest
but it's a start.

Now that nest should be
in the tree, Lomon. Yes!

It's amazing in this group.
You've got real characters.

You've got Lomon the eater,
you've got the little biter,

you've got Kesi the climber
and you've got Vanilla the stealer.

SHE LAUGHS

So come on, Lomon, snack time
over. It's back to climbing lessons.

Hey. Oh!
SHE LAUGHS

You know, I thought
we were getting somewhere.

Come, Lomon, come. Up the tree,
look, see, there.

There! Then you do that.

I've got ya.

There! Well, it's a start.

There, see, you CAN do it.

Is that high enough for you?

I feel we've made a bit of progress!

Just going to roll him
on his back again

so he's in a better position
for waking up.

Oh, oh, here we go, hang on to that,
hang on to that, not on to me.

There you go, good lad, there we go.

Don't fall down. Don't, stay there!

Hang on.

That's a good lad, ooh, have a pee.

So roughly how long
is he going to stay on here?

What's the plan for the ones
that come to the island?

They're all individual but
we hope at least three seasons,

that means two
fruiting seasons and one dry season.

Ah, right, OK, and the dry season
is the important one for them
to learn how to cope out in the wild?

Yes. They need to learn they can
eat grasses, they can eat leaves,

they can eat bamboo
and other things as well.

He's almost completely round now.

He's still a bit groggy
but we're happy now to leave him.

It's gonna take him some time
to really get used
to this new environment.

So for the first few days,
there's going to be somebody
with him constantly.

One of the technicians will
be around to make sure
he's not getting into any mischief.

You all right? Hm?

There's never a dull moment
here at the centre.

This tiny little baby orangutan
that's in quarantine

has managed to escape twice
from this cage

and the way that it's done it is,

you see these,
it's actually managed to undo it,

pull it off,
open the door and get out.

It seems crazy, doesn't it?
For this tiny little Houdini,

they've had to resort
to a huge chain.

Now it seems very sad to see this
little guy all on his own in here,

but he's actually in here
while his mother is being treated
with a broken arm

and he's obviously so desperate
to get back with her,

the bond is so great that he's doing
anything to get out of this cage.

This is where little Houdini's
going to see his mum again.

These orangutans were rescued
from an oil palm plantation
about three weeks ago,

so they're still very wild and
they're still very wary of people.

Hopefully, these two won't have
to be in this cage for too long,

it just depends how long it takes
for the arm to get strong again.

And then because they were caught
from the wild,

hopefully they will be able
to go back into a safe wild

in the not too distant future.

As Houdini settles in with his mum,
another drama is unfolding
at the centre.

A baby has just been rescued
but this one doesn't have
its mum around.

Babies like this will face
many years of forest education
before they can be released again.

Hey, hey.

We have no idea
what condition this baby will be in.

Oops! No, no, no, no.

ORANGUTAN SQUEAKS

Oh, he's a biter!

Poor little guy!

With its forest home destroyed,

this baby was forced into a palm
oil plantation with its mother.

Sadly, its mum was then killed,
leaving the little one
totally helpless.

It's got quite a few
little wounds now.

Poor little guy, he must
just not know what's going on.

He'll go into a cage soon.

Although he's obviously traumatised,

it's important to give him
a quick health check

and treat any physical injuries.

What do you reckon
that's from, Lone?

It's probably from barbed wire
or something.

LONE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Stings.

We won't take any blood from him
today because he's a bit stressed.

We'll wait for those,
there are some other ones
coming back from the rescue,

so we'll take blood
from him when they come back.

This is yet another victim
of the palm oil industry.

Yet another orangutan
that's lost its mother.

He's a strong little guy.

I suppose he's got four hands.

It's going to take quite a while
for our big male, Zorro, to recover,

so I'm catching up with
my best mates, Ellie and Grendon,
pupils in Forest School One.

If these babies were still
with their mums out in the wild,

one of the most important things
they would be learning

is what to eat when times get hard.

We all know that the orangutans
love to eat fruit
but during the dry season,

there's very little of that about, so
they'll have to find something else.

If you look around the forest,

there are thousands of different
species of plants available,
but which are edible?

To be honest, I've no idea,
but the babysitters do.

You've done this before.

Right, cool.

How to find the right food
is yet another of the many skills

orphaned orangutans
have to learn from the babysitters.

Ah, not immediately obvious,
but this is the stuff.

Researchers have followed
orangutans out in the wild

so they do know which species of
plants are edible
and which ones are suitable.

You need to get it right because,

look at this plant,
it's got very similar sort of leaves,

but who knows, this one might
be poisonous, it might be toxic,

so you've got to get it right.

Thank you.

Come on then, come and get it.

Come on...

It's not just knowing which plants
to eat,

it's knowing how to eat them
and Grendon's been given
this plant before

and he knows it's not the leaves
he's interested in,
it's actually the pith.

It's the central part of the stem.

This isn't something
he's learned instinctively.

This is something he's been shown,
he's been taught how to do this

and that's a very valuable lesson.
Here you go.

Come on!

Good lad!

No?

And with that lesson over,
Grendon's decided it's time
to put his feet up.

Nests are all well and good
but you can't beat a good hammock,
just ask Grendon!

It's early afternoon and time
to check up on the baby

that was brought in
just a few hours ago.

Goodness knows what trauma this
little chap's already been through.

He's lost his mother
and been taken from the wild.

More to the point,
the wild has been taken away from
him and made into a plantation.

Even though he's wild
and he's around two-and-a-half,

he'll have to go through four years
of rehabilitation

before he can
be put back into the wild.

Because they're so dependent
on their mothers,

there's no way they can
just be put back,

they just simply wouldn't survive.

It's so sad to see it in this cage,

yet this is one of the lucky ones.

With lessons over for the day,
it's packing up time
for Forest School One

but not all the orangutans
are eager to go home.

SHE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Come on Ellie, come on.

Come on.

Every evening at least one of them
stays up the tree.

Today it's Ellie and it's Aggis.

You won't get any food!

Right, we got Ellie caught
but Aggis is still up there

so we'll try the old "Come on,
we're leaving, you'll get
left behind" trick.

The weird thing is, if you listen,
you can hear all over this forest,
in all the other sort of classes,

there's probably
one of each class still up a tree
because they're all shouting.

You get to this time of day
and it's just, "Come on!"

If you want to be a babysitter,

I think you need to write on your CV
"patience of a saint".

Come on.
It's time to go.

HE LAUGHS
Excellent.

Yeah, these guys really
know what they're doing, don't they?

That's very good. Well done!

You cheeky monkey!

Right, we can go home now!

As the day draws to a close, all the
classes are returning to the centre

and congregating on the lawn.

School's out for the orangutans.

This is their last chance to play
before they're put to bed.

Michaela and I have become
so fond of our special pupils,

Ellie, Grendon, Lomon
and all the other young orangutans.

At times like this,
it's easy to forget the tragedy

that lies behind every little face.

How's your day gone? Pretty good.

I'm seeing improvement
in my little lot.

We've got Lomon in this group,
as you can see. Still eating.
Your professional opinion?

Well, he's definitely fatter,

which is, for him,
a very, very good thing.

Is he getting a bit too porky?

I think he's a long,
long way off that, isn't he,

but he seems to be a lot happier,
he seems to be in amongst now,
he's not having to be fed.

Is that how you see him?
Oh, he eats absolutely everything
and anything. It's incredible.

But then when you think about it,
he is six years old

and most of them here
are what, around two?

Two yes, two-and-a-bit, possibly.
So he's still got a long way to go.

The thing for me is when you see them
all here, out at the end of the day,

and you think every single
one of these has lost its mum
in a violent way.

And it's just staggering,
the size of the problem.

Also when you realise that
every single one of these

represents about five that weren't
lucky enough to get a second chance.

It is amazing

and it seems to be that every day
there's reports of another one,
another rescue.

The rescue team has gone out
and collected three or four more.

It's just a continuous,
continuous cycle.

You can lose that idea when you're
sitting there and they look so cute

and they're sort of picking away
at stuff and having a lovely time,

but you must remember
where they've come from.

It's approaching four o'clock.

The day may be drawing to a close
for the young orphans

but for the rescue team,
the action just never stops.

We're heading for
the very same palm oil plantation
where we made our first rescue.

When I went on that journey,
I couldn't believe the scale
of the deforestation,

but this time it seems even worse.

The rainforest home
of the orangutans is disappearing
at an alarming rate

and it's principally
the palm oil industry
that's driving the devastation.

Used in thousands
of everyday products,

palm oil is fast becoming one of the
world's most popular vegetable oils.

As a result, vast areas
of rainforest are being cleared
to make way for new plantations.

In the last decade, over five
million hectares
of orangutan habitat

has been destroyed
by the palm oil industry alone.

As we near the village,
something tells me this could
be a very tricky confrontation.

This orangutan has been
kept illegally as a pet.

The owner isn't happy
about giving it up.

Well, this is a bit of a surprise.

We came here to actually pick up
a wild orangutan

and this is what we found,
this tiny little infant.

They've had it a week. It's so small.

THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE

It's obviously quite
a sensitive issue here,

whether these people are actually
aware of the law,

of the fact that they can't keep
this animal.

The whole rescue organisation
is completely dependent
on people who work these fields

and work these plantations,
actually working with them,

phoning them up and saying,
"There is an orangutan here."

So you can't march in here,
you know, slap the cuffs on,

or else you'll never hear about
these orangutans.

We'll never get any of them
out of these sort of areas.

So it's gently, gently
to start off with

but I know Lone and we're not
leaving here without this orangutan.

THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE

Tempers are riding high.

It's difficult
to know what will happen.

This is the trickiest
rescue we've had so far.

You can see that this isn't
a straightforward issue,

and without Lone here fighting
for these orangutans,
they really wouldn't stand a chance.

There's still so far to go,

to get people to understand that
you can't keep these animals as pets

and that if we don't start
looking after them, they're not
going to be around very long.

So have we moved past
gently, gently now? Yes!

OK, I noticed the subtle transition.

What's the state of play at the
moment? He's obviously not keen.

He keeps saying,
"If you take this one,
I'll go and get another one."

But he doesn't understand he has to
kill the mother. Yeah.

For this one he didn't
kill the mother,

but he doesn't understand he's
has to do that to get another one.

It is taking just about
everybody to convince him.

People will look at
this, little guys clinging to you,

and just think they are so cute

but it's just totally inappropriate.

How old do you think this one is?

Probably about seven,
eight months old.

SHE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE

Well, that went smoothly(!)

As you can see,
it's quite a fight sometimes.

All we can do is get this one back.

Unfortunately, not all
confiscations are straightforward.

But thanks to Lone and her team,
at least one more baby
orangutan has been saved.

Netx time on Orangutan Diary,

we find out whether Lomon is ready

to make the grade
and move up to the next class.

Who's the star pupil of Forest
School One - Ellie or Grendon?

And will Zorro overcome years
of solitary confinement

and learn to enjoy life in the wild?