Projects
Post-Release Monitoring
A ground-breaking project to monitor the success of rehabilitated orangutans before and after they are returned to the wild.
Our Post Release Monitoring Project ran for over ten years. Rehabilitated orangutans from Sepilok were released to live freely in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, which covers 1205km2 of protected rainforest. It is now home to over 25 of Sepilok’s rehabilitated orangutans. Our team tracked and observed the released orangutans to find out how they adapted to living in the wild.
This was the first project of its kind and attracted global attention. Through the pioneering use of sub-cutaneous radio telemetry implants, our team gathered thousands of hours of never before recorded behavioural data for each released orangutan.
Many of the orangutans prospered and are successfully rearing a second generation of wild-born young. This has proven that Sepilok’s rehabilitation programme is giving orphaned orangutans the skills and confidence which they need to thrive in the wild.
The Post Release Monitoring Project came to a close in 2017 and the team have been able to leave these successfully released orangutans to live completely uninterrupted lives.
Pre-release programme
The focus turned to identifying individual orangutans who are living in the smaller Sepilok-Kabili Reserve surrounding Sepilok and might also be suitable for release into Tabin Wildlife Reserve. We introduced a new pre-release programme aimed at tracking, monitoring and observing the behaviour of the rehabilitated orangutans. These semi-wild orangutans have already been released into the forest but they might still come back to visit the feeding platforms at the centre. Releasing these orangutans into a larger area could prove beneficial to them and the existing population in the reserve.
The orangutans are moved deeper into the Sepilok-Kabili Reserve, far away from the tourist areas and feeding platforms. They are offered some supplementary feeding to begin with to encourage them to stay in that area. They are then monitored by designated staff to assess how self-sufficient they currently are in skills such as climbing, foraging and nest building and gauge their future ability in the wild.
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![Orangutan hand and foot gripping rope at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre]()
Projects in the field
Orangutan rehabilitation
Rescued orangutans at Sepilok undergo a five-step rehabilitation programme to increase their chances of returning to the wild.
![Orangutan Rescue]()
Projects in the field
Rescue & release
We aid the rescue and release of orphaned, displaced and injured orangutans, as well as those who are victims of the illegal wildlife trade.
![Team photo of Alvin, Bonny, Ibri, Lineker, Arnold Victor, Jergen, Rico, Sylvester, Reklin and Pamik standing in a line with arms crossed and smiling]()
