For Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #28: Wild animals
Above, you can see a proboscis monkey that I meet in Sarawak, and below are some photos of orangutans taken a few years ago at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah, Borneo
Today, around 60 to 80 orangutans are living independently in the reserve, which covers an area of 43 sq km, much of which is virgin rainforest.
There is also an Orangutan Nursery in the reserve, where young orangutans who, for various reasons, have lost their mothers in the wild, are taken care of. They are completely dependent on their parents up to the age of six, and without help, they cannot survive later in the rainforest.
At the nursery, the young orangutans learn the essentials such as finding food, building shelter, and climbing. They are trained to survive again in the wild and released into the rainforest as soon as they are ready. It’s an invaluable effort to try to save the endangered orangutans. However, the destruction of rainforests, forest fires, and poaching continue to be the biggest threats to these amazing animals.
The Rehabilitation Centre was founded in 1964 with the aim of rehabilitating orphaned and confiscated orangutans. Today, the center faces major problems with orangutans habituated to humans. This makes me reflect on my visits among these amazing animals with mixed emotions.
The photo below is a treasured memory from Bako National Park in Sarawak. My dear husband and I hiked in the rainforest, hoping to see wild animals, and the chances of seeing proboscis monkeys were quite good. We were lucky; I’ve never been so close to a wild proboscis monkey as I was then.
Wild proboscis monkeys, which are only found in Borneo, are usually seen climbing high in the trees at dawn and dusk. My husband and I, along with two others, sit down there and look up at the monkeys from a small boat on the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Borneo. A marvelous experience.
Walking in the rainforest at night is exciting, but if I’m lucky enough to see an animal, I’m not the best at taking photos in the dark. However, this nice-looking Malaysian Buffy Fish Owl gets to join anyway.
Concluding this post with a thought provoking quote that will speak for my last photo.
“Wild animals are less wild and more human than many humans of this world.”
– Munia Khan
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