Ritchie the Orangutan – what a dude!

I met Ritchie at the Semenggoh OrangUtan Rehabilitation center. It was not a foregone conclusion as the orangutans, who have feeding stations in the park do not always come to feed. In fact the rangers consider this a good thing as it means the orangutans are finding enough food for themselves. It’s a big step in an orangutans rehabilitation process. Frankly none of us cared about that. We just wanted to see these amazing creatures.

The island of Borneo is the only place you can still see these magnificent creatures.

So I was basically wandering around on the marked path when there was a big commotion. “Quick, Quick” called out the rangers as we were all led to a platform behind a rope “Ritchie is coming”

And there he was slowly ambling down a tree, slowly ambling towards a large bunch of bananas which the rangers had put much closer to us than the feeding platform. Despite the oohs and ahs he didn’t look at any of us. Just carefully peeled his bananas which he ate with great finesse.

So the story of Ritchie. He was discovered as a baby in the jungle by Ritchie in 1981, who then bought him to Semenggoh. Probably his mother had been shot and the baby, as often happens was being kept as a pet. The deal for handing him over was that he was named Ritchie.

Over the years Ritchie became the alpha male, but this came with quite a reputation and I got all the gossip.

A few years ago there used to be another orangutan called George. He was also a large male. Apparently he got into a bitter fight with Ritchie which lasted 15 minutes. The rangers could do nothing to break it up. When it finally ended George was badly injured and was taken elsewhere for treatment. A few weeks later he was returned to the same center but when they opened the cage door to release him he refused to budge. He was then taken back to the treatment center and has been there ever since. It was an interesting insight into orangutans. I was also told that the female orangutans do not approach Ritchie as he is rather rough with the ladies’. George was a gentleman.

The center does have another alpha male at the center called Edwin who is far more cautious and keeps his distance.

Ritchie is a real performer though. After he had finished his bananas he walked very slowly back up the path. When he reached the top he slowly turned round and acknowledged his admiring audience.