Orang Utan Island is located within the exotic, eco-friendly getaway of Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, a 7,000 acre freshwater lakeside haven in Semanggol, Perak. The Orang Utan Island itself, which was formerly known as Pulau Panjang, comprises a vast 35 acre area, 5 acres of which has been set aside as a research centre for these endangered primates.
Developed by renowned Malaysian property developer MK Land thanks to its founder,YBhg Tan Sri Datuk Hj. Mustapha Kamal, the island, which opened in 2000, is the first of its kind in the world, and designed to resemble the orang utan’s natural rainforest habitat as much as possible. As such, its red-haired residents are able to roam freely within their lush, jungle environment while visitors view them from safe, enclosed spaces built within a dedicated viewing area.
It was within the nurturing borders of this island that the Orang Utan Island Research and Development Programme was born in an effort to study, breed, monitor, train and rehabilitate the increasingly endangered orang utan.
Led by Dr. Sabapathy Dharmalingam, the research center’s veterinary service manager, the island’s medical and research team has been dedicating their full resources to caring for, breeding, monitoring, training and rehabilitating the primates there in an effort to increase the population of healthy orang utans in the wild.
The island also serves as a valuable educational tool for reaching out to people who may know nothing about the crisis the orang utans are facing, and how close they are to becoming extinct. Upon their visit to the island, visitors are exposed to all aspects of the orang utan’s existence, including how they behave, eat, breed and socialise, and the dangers they face.
Having started with just 3 orang utans in 1999, the island’s primate population has grown to 23, 12 of which were born on the island itself. The centre’s rehabilitation programme focuses on teaching the orang utans the essential skills they need to survive in the wild, such as foraging for food, nest building, tree climbing and socialising, in anticipation for their eventual release into their natural habitat.

Stage 1- The Infant Care Unit



The Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation is the driving force behind the island’s operations as well as its research centre’s main source of funding. The foundation’s main responsibilities include the setting up and maintenance of the island’s facilities, facilitating sponsorships and donations, organising orang utan infant relocation, displacement support, rehabilitation, and education programmes, in addition to collaborating with universities, government agencies, schools, charitable organisations and non-government organisations.The foundation aims to:

Support and assist the Government via its agencies in carrying out orang utan research, education, development, conservation, breeding, and rehabilitation programmes, and drawing up protection policies;

Garner the support of individuals, corporations, private organisations, government agencies and societies, universities, schools, and non-government agencies via donations or assistance.

Serve as a comprehensive, national resource centre for information on orang utans, orang utan research, and link to collaborations with other related information centres worldwide.

Established in 2004, the Infant Care Unit provides complete veterinary care, a carefully formulated diet plan and 24-hour monitoring to each and every infant orang utan that comes in. Each infant is examined thoroughly via a series of tests, including blood analyses, fecal examinations, and vital signs monitoring. The unit is equipped with:


a) A treatment room, where routine check-ups, clinical diagnoses and treatments are carried out;


b) A recovery room, where the necessary medication are given and monitoring is performed for infant orang utans that need it;


c) An exercise yard complete with equipment such as ropes, where physical rehabilitation begins. It is here that each infant orang utan is introduced to the wild and is prepared for adaptation to their natural surroundings.

Infant orang utans are separated from their mother for a variety of reasons, such as premature birth, low birth weight, chronic diarrhoea, and a host of other biological factors.


Stage 2 - The Enrichment Development Unit


The Enrichment Development Unit is an extension of the exercise yard, and is designed to expose young orang utans to items found in their natural surroundings such as leaves, branches, and tree trunks, which are essential for helping them develop their basic survival skills. Infants remain in this stage for up to 2 years.

The activities within this unit is further divided into 5 sections to aid the young orang utans’ development:

a) Climbing: Hanging ropes encourage the young ones to hold on to a rope, climb, learn how to balance themselves and stand, as they would on trees in the wild.

b) Water sourcing: Learning how to source for water, especially when it is scarce, is a critical survival skill, and here, young orang utans are taught to develop this instinct.

c) Foraging: Food items are hidden in different areas to encourage young orang utans to forage for food as they would in the wild.

d) Nest-building: Nesting material is provided to let the orang utans promote their nesting instincts, allowing them to build comfortable places of rest.

e) Swinging: Swinging, climbing and balancing are core aspects of the orang utan’s arboreal nature, and nothing brings these qualities out better than the swinging exercises developed here.

Stage 3 - The Introductory Controlled Release Unit

In this stage of rehabilitation, the 2- to –3-year-old infants are gradually introduced to a controlled, natural environment. Here, the infants will experience minimum contact with humans, are exposed to adult orang utans, and have their interactions and reactions gauged. One ranger is assigned to monitor each orang utan.

Stage 4 - Exhibit Controlled Release

Here, contact between the young orang utans and humans is cut off completely. They are released to roam free within the designated forested areas of the island, which is equipped with all the necessary enrichment material they need to develop physically, socially and emotionally. It is in this stage that the juvenile orang utans exhibit instinctive behavioural traits such as nest building.

Stage 5 - Exhibit Release

This stage of rehabilitation is designed for adolescent, sub-adult and adult orang utans. Their freedom to roam within the rainforest surroundings is maintained, while visitors are allowed to observe from a distance. To stimulate them, enrichment materials like feeding tunnels, honey, and milk dispensers are placed strategically around the area to nurture their natural traits and instincts. It is also here that the orang utans begin to mate.

Stage 6 - Wild Release

This is the end stage of rehabilitation, and involves the release of the orang utans into their natural habitat. To date, one female orang utan has been released in Malacca

Stage 7 - Return to Place of Birth

Here, orang utans that were obtained by loan are sent back to their respective places of birth.

Special Care

Pregnant Orang Utans

Upon confirmation of their pregnancy, expecting female orang utans are provided with daily care and monitoring in confinement to minimise the likelihood of abortion and miscarriage. They are put on a diet of which includes fruit juices and vitamin supplements, and are encouraged to exercise to keep as healthy as possible.

Veterinary Medical Management

Adult Orang Utans

The most common medical problems faced by orang utans in captivity include feeding difficulties, diarrhea, upper respiratory tract infections, and physical injuries resulting from fights. The complications arising from these situations are treated and constantly monitored by our resident veterinary surgeon. During the monitoring of the affected orang utans, blood, fecal, tuberculosis, and urine tests are regularly conducted.

Infant Orang Utans

Premature births, a low birth weight, upper respiratory tract infections, and chronic diarrhea are common among infant orang utans. These are also closely monitored by the resident veterinary surgeon and his team of assistants and nurses. Regular blood and fecal testing, and vital signs monitoring are carried out to ensure a full recovery.

Malaysian scientists are scouring the rainforests of Johor state in search of the legendary ape-man Bigfoot, supposedly sighted late last year. But they are more likely to encounter some less fantastic but unique creatures that dwell in these still unexplored ecosystems. In recent years a number of new and conspicuous animals have been discovered in the forests of South and Southeast Asia, including 361 new species in Borneo over the past decade and 43 new species of vertebrates in Sri Lanka. Just last year, scientists with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) captured on film what may be a new species of mammal in the rainforests of Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo.

The fox-like creature is apparently unknown even to local hunters.Such is not the case with another species discovered last year. The kha-nyou, a bizarre long-whiskered rodent, was first described by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists after it was found on a table at a hunter's market in central Laos. The animal has since been classified in its own taxonomic family. While most experts agree that the likelihood is remote of finding the "Bigfoot" beast Malaysian tribal people call hantu jarang gigi, the country's efforts to ascertain the existence of such a creature are not the first time a government in the region has acted on behalf of a cryptozoological entity.

Bhutan created Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary—650 square kilometers of temperate rhododendron and pine forests in the eastern part of the country—specifically to protect the habitat of the yeti, better known as "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch" in other parts of the world. To date the yeti has proved elusive, but Bhutan as a whole is home to 29 other species of mammals and more than 625 kinds of birds. Besides "Bigfoot," Malaysia has had reported sightings of another mysterious "cryptid," the orang pendek, which is said to be an unclassified species of primate similar to the orangutan but standing only two and a half to five feet in height (thus there would be no confusing the orang pendek with the alleged "Bigfoot" which is said to stand nine feet tall). Periodic sightings of the orang pendek date back to the Victorian era but expeditions to find the species have turned up no conclusive evidence.

The existence of such creatures is very much in doubt, and hopes of finding the unknown are fading due to widespread habitat loss across much of Asia. The situation is especially urgent in Malaysia, where deforestation rates have jumped 86 percent since the close of the 1990s as a result of forest degradation and clearing for oil palm, logging, and other forms of development. With primary forest covering around 10 percent of the country, the chances of finding Bigfoot or other creatures is diminishing fast. "Skeptics might say that if we are still discovering such amazing new animals, why are people worried about wildlife loss," said Dr. Robert Timmins, a WCS researcher, at the time of his Lao rodent discovery. "But of course it is an indication of how little we know, and a window onto what we could be losing without ever knowing." For more information on current research in Malaysia's rainforests, take a look at the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) Asia, the WCS-Malaysia Program, and the WWF-Malaysia.