Sharing Love for Orangutans for World Orangutan Day

By Petrus Kanisius, Media Coordinator and Environmental Education Officer Every August 19th is World Orangutan Day (WOD) – a day to support and encourage all of us to care about the fate of this highly endangered primate. This year the theme for World Orangutan Day was “Love for Orangutans.” Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program/Yayasan Palung […]



My Journey to Becoming an Orangutan Field Research Assistant

By Aynuddin, Field Research Assistant My name is Aynuddin, but I am usually called Udin. I come from Dusun Tanjung Gunung in Kayong Utara Regency. This is the story of how I began working at the Cabang Panti Research Station (CPRS). Before I worked at CPRS, I was just an ordinary person who worked different […]



Planting Trees to Commemorate World Environment Day and World Rainforest Day

By Petrus Kanisius, Media Coordinator and Environmental Education Officer This June we commemorated two special days – World Environment Day, celebrated June 5th, and World Rainforest Day, celebrated June 22nd. We commemorated both days simultaneously by planting trees along the road to the tourist destination of Celingcing Mangrove Forest in Suka Baru Village, Benua Kayong […]



Liquid Gold: Urine as a Non-Invasive Method to Study Orangutan Physiology

By Faye Harwell, PhD, Recent Boston University Graduate As my fellow lab mates headed to Gunung Palung National Park last summer, I made my way to Virginia with several coolers of orangutan urine in tow. Instead of trekking through the jungle in search of wild orangutans, I would be studying orangutan physiology from the comfort […]



My First Experience Entering the Peat Swamp Forest of Hutan Desa Padu Banjar

By Mahendra, Bentangor Office Assistant/Guard My name is Mahendra and I am the Office Assistant and Security Guard at the Bentangor Environmental Education Center. My daily activities involve maintaining the facility and security of Bentangor, located in Pampang Harapan Village, Sukadana District, Kayong Utara Regency. During my time working for Yayasan Palung/GPOCP I have been […]



A Long-Awaited Return to Indonesia for My Dissertation Research

By Laura Brubaker-Wittman, Boston University PhD Candidate This is Laura Brubaker-Wittman and I am so happy to have finally made it to Indonesia! Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian government halted the issuance of research visas for the past couple of years. Finally, in June 2022, I was one of the first researchers to […]