For half an hour, with Czech veterinarian Dr. Ivona Foitova and a park ranger, you ve been documenting all that a female orangutan, with a year-old baby velcroed to her long red hair, is putting in her mouth. She s 10 meters up in a fig tree, so with binoculars you re getting a good look.
Orangutans seem deliberate in everything they do.
The baby watches intently, occasionally aping her actions with a clumsy reach toward a fig. His fascination is well-placed, for he has much to learn if he is ever to manage a healthy diet for himself among a legion of plants, many of which are toxic. That s why orangutan infants stay with their mothers for so long. Reintroduced to the wild three years ago after spending her infancy in captivity, this female is a success story. She has mastered the dietary challenge.