THE LITTLE INQUISITOR
4-year-old Monyo is part of our adoption family and enjoys his days in Forest School. His social skills have greatly improved; he is close with Niniek and friendly with Jeni, Ramangai, Aiko, and Alexander.
Together with his friends, Monyo has been actively roaming the Forest School area. He doesn’t wander off very far but will now bravely climb tall trees. The surrogate mothers noticed Monyo being the most curious one in the group, especially when tasting newly discovered food sources.
One day, he and his classmates were inspecting a piece of rotten wood. Monyo didn’t immediately know how to forage for termites or bark, but something caught his attention.
Little Monyo has already incorporated a variety of foods into his diet.
Emerged from curiosity
While the other orangutans enthusiastically licked the termites off the weathered log, Monyo edged his way forward and plucked a white-hooded mushroom from the log’s surface. Luckily, this type of mushroom is edible. The skill of foraging for mushrooms must have emerged purely from Monyo’s curiosity, as the surrogate mothers have not introduced this particular type of food to the group.
On another day, a surrogate mother offered Monyo a small white flower growing from the vines in Forest School. He plucked a single petal from the flower, gave it taste, and discarded it. However, not long after this, Monyo found the same flower on his own and gave it another taste test: this time, he seemed to like it. Monyo’s diet has since become more varied.
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- Monyo is the most curious in his group.
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- He loves to bravely climb tall trees.
2,000 types of food
While orangutans are known as frugivores, or fruit eaters, in the wild, they also consume a variety of other food sources, including leaves, flowers, tree bark, piths, honey, insects, and mushrooms, like the one Monyo recently discovered. A study has revealed that orangutans can eat 2,000 different types of foods.
The ability to recognise different food sources is a vital skill for orangutans. If little Monyo maintains his inquisitive nature, he will undoubtedly have an infinite selection of forest foods to feast on.
Way to go, little Monyo!
You can follow Monyo’s rehabilitation journey to freedom by adopting him here. Thank you so much for your support!
