Paradise lost: A gorilla of Africa scoops a handful of water from a man-made river at Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
Cramped and surrounded by hard surfaces - wet tiles, a few wooden branches, cement walls, iron bars and a grim, wooden rack - several rare, Indonesian primates spend their lives.
This is one of 10 rooms at Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta, where more than a dozen primates cluster.
An owa, a gibbon from the Hylobatidae, sits alone and still, gazing.
In the corner, a gibbon mother holds her baby and watches her friend swing from side to side, hanging from an iron bar.
They share a barren living space called a "family cage", built on hard-tiled floors and separated by walls. Trees are there, but they are out of reach, standing outside their homes.
"I agree they do not deserve to be placed in cages," says Mimi Utami, the zoo's general curator. "It is like a prison for them. It's not ethical, even for animals.
"They were not supposed to stay there permanently," Mimi says. "Some of them come from people who kept them as pets, others were confiscated from poachers.
"But, some have been here for a year, some for five," says the conservation biologist.
"The good news is, those primates will soon have their own place at the Schmutzer Primate Center this year. The new enclosure project finished in December last year."
Ragunan is the country's oldest zoo, It is home to 3,594 animals - 1,858 birds, 1,150 mammals, reptiles 332 and 160 fish. There are 136 different species of birds inside the walls of the 140-hectare compound, 82 mammals, 41 reptiles and 19 fish.
On average, 15 to 20 thousand visitors walk through the zoo's gates on weekends and 3,000 each weekday, according to Ketut, head of the zoo's revenue division.
The Schmutzer Primate Center is a 14-hectare compound inside the zoo, specifically built for primates. It houses gorillas, orangutans, siamang and other primate species.
The center was built and founded by the Gibbon Foundation and the late Puck Schmutzer.
The zoo has 52 orangutans and three gorillas. But with limited space, only around 20 orangutans can be seen by the public. The rest are kept in a quarantined space.
"By February, I hope each of the zoo's primates will have a home at the center," Mimi says.
A mother's love: An orangutan, Inah, carries her baby, Chelin, at Schmutzer Primate Center in Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta, in this file photo. Orangutans in the center enjoy greenery and a bit of nature inside their enclosure, while their fellow primates at the zoo have to cope with a concrete enclosures. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
The primate center has special enclosures for the three greater ape species - gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees - which have slightly more room to move than the regular family cage. The other apes are still in cages.
The zoo also keeps orangutans outside the Schmutzer Center. It has three enclosures in separate locations.
While the orangutans at the center climb trees, the orangutans in the enclosure climb cement towers and poles.
These "outsiders" have a cement island for them to walk around, with tires and ropes for them to swing.
There are three orangutans in each enclosure.
Visitors can watch the orangutans' every move from outside the cement cages; there is no privacy.
The orangutans at the primate center, on the other hand, have more privacy.
Like humans, orangutans need privacy.
"Orangutans share 97.3 percent of the same DNA with humans, says Hardi Baktiantoro, Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) coordinator.
"Orangutans are unique individuals," he says. "Each has their own likes and dislikes when it comes to food, leisure activities and other physical and emotional needs.
"Just like us.
"They have the same emotions as humans. Therefore, it is easy to see when they are scared, bored or sad.
"It is not pleasant watching them walking around a cage or enclosure, pulling at their hair and biting their hands."
There are certain principles that should be taken into account if you must cage a primate, Hardi says.
Freedom to express their natural behavior, such as swinging from tree to tree, is an example of one such principle.
The enclosures outside the primate center do have ropes and swinging tires, "but the locations of the tires and ropes must be changed every few months, or at least yearly".
A simple change of the direction of the play equipment can help reduce the animals' stress levels.
"*The zoo* often says they do not have sufficient budget to provide a more enriching enclosure," he says.
But it does not take much to vamp up an enclosure, he adds, you can just put in new branches with leaves every day for the primates to play.
"How much do tree branches cost?," Hardi asks
"They will have fun with the branches and they will forget they are in cages."
Last week, Hardi and two other orangutan activists met with Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo to ask for better treatment of the primates.
"From what I can see, the zoo focuses more on the visitors - a huge gate, new shop shelters," Hardi says. "The animals do not need those."
The governor has agreed to pay more attention to the endangered primates, and he has asked for technical advices from COP and the administration.
"By the end of February, we will have a fixed plan to provide better treatments for orangutans at Ragunan Zoo," Fauzi says. (iwp)
