Charlie is still “King of The Pack” among the OFI infant orangutans. He is always close to the action, if he is not the cause of it himself! Friends Ben and Ryan are his favourite playmates and the three are often seen rolling around together on the forest floor play fighting. Due to his rough and tumble antics, Charlie was beginning to lose a lot of his hair. Thankfully, his orange hair has started to grow back in the last few months and is becoming slightly more lush and a little bit longer. Charlie still prefers to stay on the forest floor, not liking to climb or play in the trees. He can often be seen turning somersault after somersault on the ground. However, he doesn’t stay too close to his caregivers much of the time, often taking off to explore the forest on foot.

Now that the rains have arrived, the forest floor is much wetter than usual and as a result, many small pools of water have formed. Charlie is captivated by these pools of water and loves nothing more than dipping his hands into the water and splashing around. This can leave Charlie covered in dark brown mud by the time the mud bath ends and his caregivers have to give him a water bath before he can return to his sleeping enclosure. Charlie doesn’t mind and continues to jump and play in the puddles of water, sometimes purposely splashing a friend if he/she gets too close and doesn’t join in. Charlie often meets his friend Kobe at one of these puddles and the two will splash around together. Charlie may be “Mr Sociable”, but recently has begun spending more time playing alone in the forest. It is normally in these moments that he will sneak away to play in a pool of water by himself, before diving back headlong into the action. Charlie continues to display his fearlessness by playing with older orangutans. Charlie often seeks them out to play fight, even though they are much bigger and stronger than him. With time Charlie will begin to join in with his friends, big and small, as they climb into the trees.

With the encouragement of his caregivers, it is inevitable that Charlie will ultimately leave the comfort of the forest floor to start climbing. This is the next big step in his rehabilitation. We eagerly await the day!

Click here to download Charlie’s 2016 February Foster Update