Young Charlie has not disappointed in his progress over the past six months. He has kept his calm nature and seems to be focused on fine-tuning his orangutan skills. While some of his peers love to rush into the trees or start play fighting as soon as they are out in forest school, Charlie takes his time.

During forest school, Charlie usually starts on the forest floor. He loves to examine vegetation and small animals from up close. He will pick up insects with his thumb and index finger, carefully studying them before putting them is his mouth in order to sample their taste. He does the same with unfamiliar leaves which are very plentiful in the biodiverse jungle of this habitat. Charlie loves to build ‘day-nests’ on the forest floor. He carefully looks around for the right branches and braids them into an orangutan bed. Once he is finished making his nest, he tests it, lying down in every possible position. After spending quite some time on the forest floor, Charlie makes his way bit by bit up into the trees. He slowly but surely climbs all the way to the top, making little stops on his way whenever he sees something interesting like an insect, a hole in a tree, or a bird’s nest to investigate. It is very encouraging to see young Charlie paying such close attention to his rainforest surroundings. These observational skills will serve him well when the time comes for him to forage and survive independently in the wild.

When in a playful mood, Charlie loves to have fun in the water. On hot days, it is not uncommon to see Charlie diving head first into a little forest puddle. It is hilarious to see. He will spend a lot of time in these puddles, sucking up water with his mouth and then pushing the water out in between his pursed lips. Recently Charlie has been trying to use leaves from which to drink water. His caregivers sometimes show him how to fold leaves into little cups. He carefully studies this action and imitates it. While Charlie is not yet totally successful at folding little leaf cups, we are sure Charlie will get the hang of it one day!

In the next six months, Charlie’s challenge will be to start spending more time exploring the canopy. His caregivers encourage him to climb and explore the tree canopy at every release. We have high hopes that Charlie will develop some great climbing skills over the coming months.

Click here to download Charlie’s August 2017 Foster Update