Mary continues to do well at Jungle School and build on her forest skills. She is in excellent health and currently weighs 18.3kg.
Mary is very agile in the canopy and uses branches, vines, and tree trunks to travel and explore. She can move very quickly, and the orangutan carers must watch her very carefully or it is easy to lose track of her! Mary loves to explore and forage, and she is very good at finding various forest fruits to eat. She is often seen feasting on fruits high in the canopy. She also loves to play and splash in water and mud.
Recently, Mary and Popi had a fight over some food when they were housed in the same enclosure. Both suffered from bite wounds, but poor Popi was definitely worse off. When the medical team tried to examine Popi’s bite wounds, Mary tried to guard and protect Popi. Mary tried to pull at the clothes, hands and even the hair of the vet who examined Popi. Mary then licked the bite wounds on Popi’s hand and head as if to apologise to Popi. She even gave her food to Popi even though the start of the commotion began when Mary stole Popi’s food.
Mary is rarely seen with other orangutans. It seems she may prefer to be alone so that she doesn’t have to share the forest fruits that she finds in the trees. Mary is known to fight with other orangutan over food. The orangutan keepers find it difficult to coax Mary down from the trees when Jungle School has finished, and the orangutans need to return to their night enclosures. Often, the orangutan keepers need to just be patient and wait for Mary to become bored and hungry. She will then finally come down to return to the enclosure to receive her dinner and nesting material.
It's wonderful to see that Mary continues to make good progress on her rehabilitation journey
