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Mari started out life with a handicap because while an infant her mother was in an agitated state and damaged Mari’s arms so badly she no longer has them.

Mari is incredible though because she gets around so well sometimes her keepers even forget she is missing her limbs.  She either walks upright to move around or will roll when she wants to get around faster.  She climbs the ladder to the top of her 30 foot enclosure using her chin and feet  Mari spends a lot of time walking upright through the woods in the special Boswell Walk-About Chute System at the center.

Mari arrived in the Center for Great Apes in 2001.  Pongo and Christopher were the first orangutans she met at the center and they have stayed great friends.  She has “adopted” five year old Pebbles.  She sleeps with Pebbles and even shares her food with Pebbles.

The carekeepers are very challenged to create activities to entertain Mari because she spent many years at a research center where she could solve computer mazes by manipulating a joystick with her feet plus many other problem solving activities.

Check out the website for the Center for Great Apes to see how you can help these amazing orangutans.

What can you do for Mari?  Donate enrichment items to the center.  Check out their Wish List for items you can donate.

You can send your donations to:  Center for Great Apes, Box 488, Wauchula, Florida 33873

If you want to learn more about how you can help Mari and the other orangutans and chimps that the center provides permanent homes to, contact them: http://www.prime-apes.org/html/contact.html

Radcliffe was born on February 18, 1979 in a zoo in Ohio.  Radcliffe was unlucky in that he is a cross between a Bornean orangutan and a Sumatran orangutan.  This fact probably was why he was sold to a circus trainer as a baby. 

Thus began his entertainment career.  Yes, he was a television personality and he also had to perform for small traveling circuses during his early years (when he should have been with his mother).

You’ll NEVER guess what happened?  Of course, Radcliffe became too large for the trainers to handle safely.  He was sold to another zoo in New York and then to a roadside attraction in Florida.  He was almost to his final and best home he could imagine.

The roadside attraction closed and thankfully the Center for Great Apes was able to rescue him from his years in small cages.

  Radcliffe now gets to climb high in his sanctuary home.

  He lives with another orangutan named Bam Bam.

And, using the wonderful Boswell Walk-About Chute System he visits all of his other orangutan friends.

  Radcliffe loves to play with all the enrichment items the center provides for him.  The center makes sure he gets three enrichments a day to keep his curious mind busy.  He really likes bubbles in his water and rags so he can wash down the toys, shelves and walls of his nighthouse.

  This is what Radcliffe looked like after 12 months at the center.  He not only looked better but he felt better.

Radcliffe started out life not so lucky since he was not pure Bornean nor pure Sumatran.  But if he could talk now he would say how thankful he is a cross between both types of orangutans because it brought him to the Center for Great Apes his final and best home.

What can you do for Radcliffe?  Donate enrichment items to the center.  Check out their Wish List for items you can donate.

You can send your donations to:  Center for Great Apes, Box 488, Wauchula, Florida 33873

If you want to learn more about how you can help Radcliffe and the other orangutans and chimps that the center provides permanent homes to, contact them: http://www.prime-apes.org/html/contact.html

What will you tell your children when the orangutans are extinct?  Watch this video.

The following video has some wonderful shots of orangutans.  It is informative but also entertaining:

Adorable orphans at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Borneo

Breakfast!

www.OrangUtanRepublik.org

Orangutan orphanage in the rainforest at Sepilok in eastern Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo in October 2002.

He is retired from the entertainment business.  I believe if he could talk he would say the entertainment business sucks.

Louie is very fortunate because he gets to spend the rest of his life at the Center for Great Apes. 

Louie’s life didn’t begin so nice.  He was born on December 19, 1995 and was taken from his mother.  He spent his first year working at a Miami tourist attraction when he should have been bonding with his mother.

Then he was sold to a trainer and worked at Universal Studios tourist attraction.  He was kept backstage in a cage and forced to perform four to five live shows a day for the tourists.

Like so many other orangutan entertainer stories, Louie became too strong for the trainer to control safely so he was kept in a cage for three more years before finally arriving at the Center for Great Apes.

Now Louie has orangutan friends to play with, a large area to travel around and caregivers that make sure he gets enrichment every day.

Louie loves bubble baths and coloring with chalk.

I’m sure he would want me to encourage you to donate enrichment items to the center.  You can find a list of items needed at http://www.prime-apes.org/html/needs.html.  Of course, they can always use monetary donations also.

Read more about Louie and his friends at the Center for Great Apes website.

If you wish to contact the center before donating to it their contact information is:

phone: 863-767-8903

email: pongo@prime-apes.org

Kind Regards,

April & Kesi

It’s time to get Kesi a sister or brother.

My birthday is coming up and I’m going to put an orangutan on my wish list.

But, I just don’t know which one to adopt.

I’ve been researching the different sites that have orangutans up for adoption.  (Check out my Adoption page.)  And, all it has done is make it even harder to decide.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

April & Kesi

I decided to check and see who else has adopted Kesi.  I’ve also included links to articles that include Kesi.

Guess what?  Kesi is now royalty according to these articles:

Her Royal Highness Crown princess Victoria to become adoptive parent?

http://sofiasroyalsweden.blogspot.com/2007/10/crown-princess-victoria-adopts.html 

Linda Frost adopted Kesi: http://redapes.org/guestbook/#comment-1405

This blogger adopted Kesi: http://julienne.wordpress.com/kesi/  Her blog is very interesting.

Pentad adopted Kesi:  http://www.pentad.no/kesi.htm

Rachel adopted Kesi:  http://eeyore5.livejournal.com/24120.html

World Society for the Protection of Animals WSPA wrote:  http://www.wspa.org.au/publicfiles/WSPANewsAus_lowres.pdf

I’ll look for more and add them as I find them.

Kind Regards,

April & Kesi (Her Highness)