Currently, the work at Suaq is carried out by our team of local field assistants and two MSc students from the Universitas Nasional (UNAS, Jakarta, Indonesia) in collaboration with the University of Zürich (Switzerland), the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior of Konstanz (Germany), the University of Leipzig (Germany), the Institute Pertanian Bogor (IPB, Indonesia), and the University of Warvick (UK). Due to the coronavirus restrictions, we are unable to have more researchers working at the monitoring station but we hope to be able to return soon. Other researchers, PhD students and undergraduates with projects at Suaq are currently analyzing the long-term data and continue to author scientific publications. The topics of these projects are:

  • Development of intelligence
  • Skill acquisition
  • Cultural transmsission
  • Feeding ecology
  • Cultural vocal repertoires

Feeding behavior and food types of the Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) at Suaq Balimbing

The goal of this project is to invest how ecological and social factors affect the feeding behavior and diet compositions of Sumatran orangutans.

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Feeding Behaviour and Energy Intake of adult male Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii)

With this project, we aim to compare caloric intakes and nutrient compositions of the diets of different age-sex classes, in particular adult males.

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Feeding techniques and nutritional content of the diets of juvenile Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii)

The aim of this project is to shed light on feeding skills and nutrition of independently ranging immature Sumatran orangutans.

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Immigrant orangutan males as cultural vectors & the evolution of tolerance vs. xenophobia

This study investigates the role of socially transmitted knowledge between local females and immigrant unflanged males.

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The development of cognition and curiosity in immature orangutans

With this project, we investigate how differences in opportunities for social learning affect the cognivie development of immatures and later skill sets.

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