Sex: Female
Arrival Date: 17th October, 2009
Approximate Age: 1 year
Previous History:
Care Centre: Batu Mbelin Quarantine Centre, Sumatra, Indonesia
Wenda was confiscated along with another orangutan, named Denis. Both had been living together in one cage in a garage in the yard of a former member of the local government. According to the owner, he had kept Wenda for just one month. Wenda was in a poor nutritional state when she first arrived at the centre. She had a very distended abdomen, very dry skin, and very sparse, thin hair.
Wenda is a healthy little orangutan, growing up fast, gaining size and weight all the time. At the beginning of this month we took a blood sample from Wenda to check for any signs of Malaria or dengue, as we sadly lost one of Wenda’s friends, Mamat as a result of what we think was probably Dengue. All the orangutans living with Mamat were tested and thankfully we found no signs of illness in any of them.
Wenda loves to eat the sweet fruit and is not too happy with vegetables. When she is given her vegetables she prefers to use them as toys and at meal times she comes over and puts her hand out asking for fruit.
Wenda liked to play alone at first but started interacting with Broccoli and Memey when she was introduced to them in the socialization cage. She is always really active, but despite her maturing, she still loses out to some of the others if they steal her food.
Wenda likes to investigate everything new and is often seen playing in the tyre and the hammock. She is becoming more self-assertive and independent as she develops and far less of a timid, slightly spoiled orangutan as she was before.