In "Reflections of Eden, My Life with the Orangutans of Borneo"
(Gollancz 1995) Birut=E9 Galdikas described some incidents of orang
sexual behaviour towards human females. Unfortunately the book doesn't
have an index for its 400-odd pages so I have to rely on memory. Some
of these accounts related to captive orangs used for entertainment at
parties, where clearly the activity was invited, but in one case a
member of her own staff was sexually assaulted by a wild orang when
she went to put out food at a feeding platform near Galdikas' field
station in southwest Kalimantan. What actually happened I can't
remember . . . without an index the book's just too long to plough
through! Overall my impression from what Galdikas said on the subject
was that the inclination of wild orang males to press their favours on
lone human females was pretty well known in the region. Anyway, I'd
recommend Reflections as a good (essential!) read for anyone thinking
of working with these intriguing apes.
romillyh
. . . hope this doesn't appear several timese . . two attempts to post
it under another yahoo id failed!
--- In Marc Myers <> wrote:
>
> Jeepers Bernie, you mean all those Tarzan movies were true?
> Nothing in the article suggested sexuality. Search for food maybe. I
don't have a lot of experience with orangs but I have watched a lot of
other primates including all the other great apes in wild, captive and
captive released circumstances. Wild animals, even those who have been
habituated, generally treat us with suspicion and respect. I suspect
this was a released captive. Probably psychotic in Orang terms, thinks
it's a human and sees all humans as food sources.....Very sad, I'm
afraid but not sex.
> Marc
>
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