Roy and Lear

A few years ago, I adopted two cute orang-utans. Their little faces were filled with their huge, round eyes. Their limbs were long, skinny and covered with fine fur. Now, the two orang-utans are older and almost ready to think about leaving their rehabilitation centre... they are preparing to move off through the trees to an independent life in the forest.

I adopted Lear. Lear was a young male who was four months old when he arrived at the rehabilitation centre. A local villager had found him and then brought him to the centre. Now, he is four and a half years old and weighs eleven and a half kilograms.

This is what the rehabilitation centre have said about Lear: Lear is a little cheeky and likes to play jokes and he looks funny too! He loves to grab onto people’s clothes, steal their hats and pull at them. He has a big smile and likes to bite everything he can. You can’t but like him and he has lots of orang-utan friends. His best friends at the Care Centre are Hayes and Morgan, two other orphans. His favourite foods are rambutan and oranges. His carers are teaching him about the best and tastiest fruits.

The other orang-utan I adopted is named Roy. He’s five now. When Roy arrived at the centre, he was 10 months old. He had been confiscated by officials, which saved him from a life lived in a cage as a pet or perhaps being sent overseas to be sold.

He weighs 14 kilograms now.

This is the information I have on Roy: Roy is very playful and boisterous and loves to play rough with his friends Sidney, Tim and Dora. He has fun with his carers, teasing them whenever he can. He loves to climb and is very active, so he has no trouble finding his way in the forest. He knows how to make a nest to rest in during the day and knows where to find all the different foods in the forest. Roy was brought to the Care Centre at the age of 10 months after being confiscated by the Police and over the years he has learnt how to be independent. He is a fast learner and loves his food.

The future of the orang-utans is still depressing. Extinction in the wild is likely in the next 10 years for Sumatran Orang-utans and soon after for Bornean Orang-utans. Their intelligence is comparable to that of a five or six year old child. I first adopted the orang-utans when I had a young niece and a baby nephew. The ages of the orang-utans and the ages of my niece and nephew are close. We’re so closely related to these beautiful animals and it has been fun hearing how quickly Roy and Lear are growing up. I adopted these two orang-utans through the organisation known as The Australian Orang-utan Program.

This is their website: http://www.orangutan.org.au/