Abstract
Vertebrate predation and consumption by wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus spp.) is rare. In contrast to recorded observations of slow loris consumption by Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii), no cases of this have been previously published for Bornean orangutans in the wild. In 2017, we observed the capture and consumption of a slow loris (Nycticebus borneanus) by an adult unflanged male Bornean orangutan at Tuanan Orangutan Research Station, which is located in the Kapuas region of Central Kalimantan. The unflanged male was together with an adult female and her 3.5-year-old offspring throughout the event. However, despite the mother and her offspring watching the male closely and occasionally begging while he consumed the loris, he resisted all food-taking attempts. This study reports, to the best of our knowledge, the first documented case of slow loris predation and consumption by a Bornean orangutan, and thus provides an important data point for understanding primate predation on other primate species.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the Biology Faculty of Universitas Nasional in Jakarta, Zurich University (Switzerland) and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (USA) for their continued support. We especially thank the Indonesian State Ministry for Research and Technology, the Indonesian Institute of Science, the Directorate General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation-Ministry of Environment & Forestry of Indonesia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Nature Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan, the local government of Central Kalimantan, the Kapuas-Kahayan Forest Management Unit, the Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), and BOSF Mawas in Palangka Raya for their support and permission for this research. We would like to thank all the staff and students at TORS who contributed to the long-term data collection, especially Mardianto and Tono, who were very helpful in documenting the described event. We are sincerely grateful for the long-term and consistent financial support of the Tuanan research project by the A. H. Schultz Foundation and the University of Zurich. We also thank the following grant agencies for their support: the United States Agency for International Development (APS-497-11-000001); the Leakey Foundation; the National Science Foundation (BCS-0643122); the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; and the US Fish and Wildlife Service Great Ape Conservation Fund.
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As a strictly observational study on wild animals, there was no interaction with the study animals in any way. The research complied with protocols approved by the institutional animal care committee (IACUC) of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (IACUC no. TR202000055), and adhered to the legal requirements of Indonesia.
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Supplementary file 1 Video documentation of the male orangutan consuming the slow loris while the adult female and her juvenile offspring watch (MP4 21294 KB)
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Makur, K.P., Utami-Atmoko, S.S., Setia, T.M. et al. Slow loris (Nycticebus borneanus) consumption by a wild Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). Primates 63, 25–31 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00960-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00960-4