In a previous blog I began telling you about the morning training the orangutans go through (see Orangutan Exercises). Since we have seven orangutans, I was only able to touch on Indah and Cinta’s training. Here is more of my morning with one of the other orangutans”¦

Indah and Cinta always go out to the Absolutely Apes exhibit first. This way they can have a few minutes to themselves exploring the exhibit. Who goes out next? Well, it depends. I try not to have everyone go out in the same order; I don’t want them to think that they always go out after so-and-so. Animals like routine, but some variety is good. The only thing I have to remember is that Satu must go out before Clyde. Why? You’ll really have to ask Satu. I have learned the hard way that he refuses to go out if Clyde is already on exhibit. It’s not like Clyde is waiting for him or anything, either. Satu just sits at the door and vocalizes. He is at an age where he sometimes challenges his father, Clyde, the dominant male, but Clyde pretty much ignores Satu. So anyway, Satu must go out before Clyde.

Each orangutan has its own room; Indah and Cinta share two rooms. Janey has the presidential suite, aka the maternity room. Why? She seems to do the best in that room. The bedrooms are side by side, with a hallway along the back end. The back hallway then turns into the chute and from there the animals can go on exhibit. Each bedroom has a slider door that leads to the back hallway. Then there are additional slider doors along the back hallway so you can move the animals as needed. Got all that? Now we’ll start moving the orangutans.

Today, we’ll let Josie (pictured above) out after Indah and Cinta. Josie usually brings an item from her bedroom onto exhibit. It can be a box, paper bag, feed bag, something. If there isn’t anything she thinks is good in her room, she’ll check each bedroom as she goes by and try to snag something. Once she’s in the chute and the door is closed, I ask her to station, which means for her to hold onto the rings that are in the chute. Since this is a relatively new behavior, I sometimes have to point to the rings and then she remembers what she’s supposed to do. Josie has picked up on the ring training quickly. So while she is holding onto the rings, I ask her for some of her other behaviors: chest, ears, feet, turn around. She does all of this while holding onto the rings, everything except ” turn around” ; she does let go of the rings for that but has started to understand that she is highly rewarded if she holds back onto the rings while turned. Having the orangutans hold onto the rings while in the chute helps us by knowing their hands are occupied and not reaching for anyone. Her rewards for doing so well during her training are slices of bananas that have been subtracted from her breakfast. She is a good eater, so most fruits are welcome. Her training session probably lasts three minutes, then she’s free to join Indah and Cinta.

I try to start letting the orangutans on exhibit around 8:30 a.m. The siamangs that share the Absolutely Apes exhibit are housed in the same building in a bedroom area across from the chute. If the red apes take too long going out, which some of them sometimes do, we run into siamang singing time, which is at 9 a.m. Once those siamangs start singing, the noise is unbearable!

So our goal: to get the orangutans on exhibit before the siamangs start singing while asking them to participate in a training session. Only four more orangutans to go! Who should go on exhibit next?

Yvette Kemp is a senior mammal keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

Watch the orangutans and siamangs on Ape Cam!

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