Borneo, Day 3: the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.

Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. I went in thinking that orangutans were the only Borneo species for me. How wrong I was.

The sanctuary is surrounded by palm oil plantations. An abandoned one was bought, with plans to get it up and running again as a working farm.

One of the staff was cooking pancakes one day, when a proboscis monkey ran in and stole all the pancakes. For some reason known only to themselves, the new owners decided to turn it into a sanctuary. This property has one important feature… it borders the mangrove swamp, which is where the monkeys prefer to sleep.

The Reticulated python and Clouded Leopard are their main predators. The proboscis monkeys have webbing on their feet, which enables them to (sometimes) outswim crocodiles.

They can jump 30 feet from one tree to another. This is a learned skill, with the babies trying to jump further and further. As they gain confidence, their jumps get longer. It takes around 4 years until they make the 30 foot leaps.

Playboy of Borneo.

The males’ noses grow to 16 cm long, which allows the males to make loud noises. Whenever the group moves, the alpha male will call to make sure the whole group follows. The longer the nose, the more attractive the male is to the ladies. Their penises stay erect for 24 hours.

No comment.

They can’t eat sugar. If they do, it leads to gastric upset. The food the sanctuary feeds them are pancakes made from flour, water and cabbage.

They have a 4 chambered stomach, which digests leaves over 50 hours. They have a pot belly due to this.

Harem group, 13 to 50 members. One male, and the females.

Bachelor group… heaps.

He looks like a middle aged businessman on the train, staring at his phone, doesn’t he?

One of the males was trying to provoke the alpha male.You can hear the banging of it running across the roof, while the alpha male climbs up the tree and onto the roof to chase him.

After he landed on the roof, there was a huge kerfuffle, with thumping feet running, screaming and yelling. All the tourists went”ooooooooo” and raced to the other side, hoping to catch the action.

The winner appeared, looking mildly pleased with himself, gathered up his family and slipped back into the trees.

Female has a growth hanging from her. It started growing during Covid. They are vet checked and she’s doing fine. They are reluctant to perform surgery because they don’t want to let the animals get used to people. Then they won’t be wild animals anymore.

The babies are born with a blue face. It turns orange by around 2 years old.

They live for 25 years in the wild. The rangers hardly ever find bodies, because the monitor lizards clean them up.

These monkeys are absolutely terrific! I came to Borneo to see orangutans, but these are equally worth the trip. They were so entertaining to watch, and although they’re not the most attractive, they have an odd, quirky appeal.

Sarah’s story. Mother Muslim and father Catholic. They registered Sarah as a catholic and her siblings as Muslims, because the laws changed. Anyone marrying a Muslim must convert, and all their children must be registered as Muslim. (Her little brothers are catholic, and are having difficulty getting the government to change their official religion.)

Her parents divorced when she was 9 years old.

When she was a child, she lived with her mother in the poorest part of Borneo. People existed on rice, and to add some excitement to their diet, they added salt. She remembers going into the jungle with her friends to eat tapioca leaves, and when her Dad shot a deer, it lasted them a month. When she was in primary school, she had to walk for an hour each way to school.

When she was older, the kids went to live with her father in Kotakinabalu – the big city. There, they were exposed to all sorts of food.… fish, chicken, eggs, macaques, snakes and dog. He impressed on them the need to not waste food.

Dad fed them dog without telling them until they finished. The kids all cried, because they had a puppy. They all went to the bathroom and threw up.

Anyway, back to the trip!

We had a short boat ride across to the lodge, where we’ll be staying for 2 nights.

We were walking back to the lodge dining room and we saw a civet and a monkey having a go at each other. Sarah took this video. She was excited because she hasn’t seen one at the lodge during the day before. I was excited because I’ve never seen a civet before.

As we were getting ready to leave for the boat trip, word came in from the villagers next to the lodge that an orangutan had been spotted in an old nest. We raced over. Honestly, how would you ever know it was there?

The kids playing underneath the house were laughing at the crazy adults, I’m sure. People with binoculars could spot the orange fur in between the branches.