Have you met Siti and Sudin? These two are the best of friends. Jungle School pals, foraging buddies, and wrestling champions. They are two very determined orangutans, working their way towards freedom.
Siti and Sudin are both 7-years-old. They were rescued together in 2021 from the illegal wildlife trade, and brought to safety at the Sumatran Orangutan Reintroduction Centre in Sumatra. Since their rescue, they've spent their time at Jungle School, slowly learning what it takes to survive and thrive, back in the forest, where they belong.
Today, I'd love to bring you along for a day in their world, to show you what your support makes possible. Because your support is extraordinary. Your kindness helps rescue vulnerable orphans like Siti and Sudin, giving them the chance to recover, and find their way back to freedom.
A day in Siti’s world
First things first: Siti loves to eat. She spends almost half of every Jungle School session foraging, hunting through the canopy for wild fruits, leaves, stems, and the occasional crunchy insect. She's become wonderfully skilled at finding food, and watching her forage with such ease and confidence is one of our favourite things to witness.
When she's not on the hunt for her next snack, she's playing. Siti and Sudin love to chase and wrestle together. A blur of orange frizz and happy chaos through the lower branches. She’s also perfecting her climbing skills, moving through the trees with real grace, and swinging until her heart is content!
Most of the time, Siti hangs out at 10–15 metres above the ground. That's the sweet spot in her opinion, great fruit, and great views. But sometimes she ventures much higher, up to 20–25 into the trees. So far above the ground that our team can't see what she's getting up to. And that's a very good sign, as independence is the goal!
Siti doesn't build nests all that often, but when she does, she almost always starts completely from scratch, and produces excellent results. She consistently gets it done before sunset every single evening too, which is a real marker of how far she's come. It's a skill that will matter enormously when she's back in the wild, and she is absolutely nailing it.
Siti is social, spirited, and thriving. She has strong bonds with the orangutans around her, especially Sudin, and she approaches every day at Jungle School with curiosity and confidence. She couldn't do it without her incredible care team. And her care team couldn't do it without you!
Your support is giving Siti the time, the space, and the expert guidance she needs to build a future in the forest. Every session at Jungle School, every fruit found, every nest built, every branch conquered, happens because of donors like you.
A day in Sudin's world
Foraging is also a great passion of Sudin’s. And he is exceptionally good at it. In just the past couple of months, our team has watched Sudin eat 42 different natural food types at Jungle School. 42! Wild fruits, leaves, stems, insects, flowers, fungi - if it grows in the forest, Sudin has almost certainly tried it. His knowledge of the forest pantry is growing with every single session, and it fills us with such joy to watch.
Like Siti, Sudin's preferred height to explore is 10–15 metres above the ground. Close enough to play, high enough to find the best snacks. But he has absolutely no fear of going higher when the mood takes him, climbing all the way to 20–25 metres in pursuit of something delicious.
His nest building is excellent, and incredibly efficient. Sudin loves to build brand new nests, but sometimes tends to renovate old ones. With more time out in the forest, we hope to see Sudin build fresh nests every evening, just as wild orangutans do!
What makes Sudin truly special, though, is how much he values connection. He doesn't just forage alone, he forages with his pals. He doesn't just move through the trees, he moves with others. Resting together, travelling together, sharing nests. For orangutans, those social bonds are far more than friendship. They're a fundamental part of learning to live in the wild. And Sudin understands this instinctively, in the way that only an orangutan can.
Your support is giving Sudin the time he needs to learn and grow in the forest. Time to discover new foods, to strengthen his bonds, to grow into the extraordinary, independent orangutan he was born to be. His wild future is possible because of you.
Thank you so much for being here. For supporting orangutans like Siti and Sudin to recover, learn, and find their way back to the wild. Siti and Sudin’s future in the forest gets a little closer every single day, and it’s all thanks to you!
Thank you 🫶
If you’d like to help Siti and Sudin on their journey back to the wild, you can adopt them! By adopting one of these incredible orangutans, you'll receive regular updates straight from the forest. Their milestones, their adventures, and their progress towards the day they're released back into the wild, where they belong. Adopt Siti or Sudin today.
Program: Sumatran Orangutan Release Programme
Location: Sumatran Orangutan Reintroduction Centre, Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem, Sumatra, Indonesia
Program Partner: This program is a collaboration with our FZS partners, and the Ministry of Forestry 🌳