Orangutan Forest took nearly 4 years to complete and was fully opened in April 2009. The project was Colchester Zoo's biggest development for 2009 and cost over £1.75 million to complete.
The site is next to the newly repointed and restored All Saints Church, which is included in the development. You can see the beautiful old church to the left as you enter Colchester Zoo.
This whole area is accessible via an underground tunnel from Playa Patagonia, with an exciting outdoor area complete with waterfalls and a huge climbing frame.
The new exhibit also feature a selection of Asian fish and reptiles including a species of fresh water turtle, called Asian Giant Pond Turtles.
Don't miss the chance to find out more about Orangutans at the feed time which takes place each day at 12.00 at Orangutan Forest!
Colchester Zoo currently have two orangutans. Rajang, our 41 year old male has recently been joined by Tiga, a young male, who arrived in June 2009 from Twycross Zoo.
Rajang is one of Colchester Zoo’s oldest residents and was born at Chester Zoo on the 14th June 1968. He came to Colchester Zoo back in 1980 and is a real favourite among zoo staff and visitors.
Orangutans are extremely endangered in the wild. The main reason is that their rainforest home is being cut down to make way for oil palm plantations. This is a very high profit crop and it is thought that 10% of all supermarket products contain it. They also suffer from illegal logging and alluvial gold mining that is taking place in Indonesia and Malaysia. This is causing severe habitat loss, which is causing the dramatic depletion in Orangutan numbers.
Orangutans are the least studied of the Great Apes and relatively little is known about them as they are so elusive and hard to track in the wild. Through the studies that have taken place in the field, it has been found that Orangutans are every bit as intelligent as Chimpanzees and Gorillas and can exhibit tool use. Orangutans have even been taught sign language.
Orangutans are part of an EEP (European Breeding Programme) and we do hope to breed in the future; when hopefully a breeding pair also moves into the new enclosure.
Orangutans are listed as Endangered by the IUCN (World Conservation Union) and are listed in appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)
BORNEO ORANGUTAN SURVIVAL FOUNDATION
In order to celebrate the construction of the new Orangutan Forest enclosure at Colchester Zoo, Action for the Wild donated £5,000 to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) in 2007 and is continuing support in 2009. BOS works to ensure the survival of the orangutan. Wild orangutans displaced by the conversion of forest habitat to oil-palm plantations are at great risk of death either by starving or through human/wildlife conflict. Over 400 wild orangutans have been rescued by the BOS Nyaru Menteng project; 115 have been reintroduced to a safe forest adjacent to the Mawas reserve, but this area is now at capacity. In order to continue to rescue orangutans, those that are now resident in the project need to be translocated to the Betikap valley region as soon as possible, and wild orangutans rescued in the future also need to be quickly translocated.
Orangutan Forest took nearly 4 years to complete and was fully opened in April 2009.
Colchester Zoo currently have two orangutans. Rajang, our 41 year old male has recently been joined by Tiga, a young male, who arrived in June 2009 from Twycross Zoo.
Orangutans are extremely endangered in the wild. The main reason is that their rainforest home is being cut down to make way for oil palm plantations. This is a very high profit crop and it is thought that 10% of all supermarket products contain it. They also suffer from illegal logging and alluvial gold mining that is taking place in Indonesia and Malaysia. This is causing severe habitat loss, which is causing the dramatic depletion in Orangutan numbers.
BORNEO ORANGUTAN SURVIVAL FOUNDATION