Orangutan Island
| Orangutan Island | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Nature, documentary, drama |
| Created by | Judith Curran |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Martha Ripp |
| Producer(s) | Judith Curran |
| Location(s) | Borneo |
| Cinematography | Season 2 - Alex Hubert |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Animal Planet |
| Original release | November 2, 2007 – March 17, 2009 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Orangutan Island is an American documentary television series, in the style of the successful series Meerkat Manor, that blends more traditional documentary filming with dramatic narration. The series was produced by NHNZ with creator Judith Curran also acting as the series producer. Animal Planet's Martha Ripp is the executive producer of the series, and Lone Drøscher Nielsen of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the founder and manager of the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project, regularly appears with the orangutans in the show. The series premiered on Animal Planet on November 2, 2007, with new episodes airing Friday nights. A second season began airing in November 2008.
The show focuses on a group of orphaned orangutans at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Center that are raised to go against their normally independent nature and instead cooperate and live together in a society so they can be left to live wild on their protected island.
Anne Russon, a psychologist who has conducted extensive research in primate intelligence is acting as a scientific adviser for the series. Lone Drøscher Nielsen is the founder and project manager of the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rescue and Reintroduction Center and regularly appears in the show interacting with and caring for the orangutan orphans.
Lone Drøscher Nielsen was forced to leave Nyaru Menteng for a time due to health reasons but returned in late 2012. "Two years ago my doctor told me to move back to Europe. My health could not keep up with life in the rainforest anymore, and I got an infection which turned out to be life threatening. In the spring I finally received green light to return home to my wonderful red friends at Nyaru Menteng. Though at first only for a trial period to see if my health could keep up. Luckily my health kept up fine with my Borneo visit and my three weeks in the forest passed without problems."
Releasing rehabilitated orangutans to their natural habitat is the ultimate goal of orangutan sanctuaries. A notable first for the "cast" of Orangutan Island occurred on February 15, 2013. Mogok became the first of the orangutans depicted in the series to be released to the wild as part of a group of five semi-wild and 15 rehabilitated orangutans who were transported from the Central Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction Program at Nyaru Menteng to pre-selected release points in Bukit Batikap Conservation Forest over a period of three days. One day later, February 16, Alibaba became the second orangutan from the series to be released.
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