An insistent orangutan child with his mother at the Taipei Zoo. Photo by Shawn Thompson
It was a cool, drizzly day in old Taipei today.
I was standing at the orangutan enclosure at the Wildlife Rescue Center of the Taipei Zoo. Beside me was a smart, intuitive and somewhat romantic keeper named Yang Chiang Lan.
Yang learns by watching orangutans intently and intuiting what they want and need, which is similar to the way he wooed his reptile keeper wife Chiu Zo Jing, even taking a job at the Taipei zoo because he knew she would want to work there someday.
It took sixteen years to woo his wife, but Yang is a persistent and patient human being, the qualities he also needs to succeed with orangutans, along with flexibility and a sense of humour.
On this drizzly day I made the morning rounds for three hours with Yang of cleaning the night cages and feeding the orangutans. Yang took the time to commune with the German shepherd dogs that protect the zoo animals from wild dogs. Then Yang had time to stand and talk by the orangutan enclosure.
Yang had put out huge banana leaves for the big male Ahyong because he thought the orangutan might be a bit angry that visitors like my girlfriend Wendy and me were monopolizing Yang's time today and upsetting the regular schedule.
But what happened next was expected. We witnessed a rare and remarkable family drama.
The female orangutan Shouquaytow and her son Neanzer were released into the enclosure with the father of the child, Ahyong, after a month-long absence that apparently left the female in Shouquaytow pent up with desire.
Shouquaytow was munching on a big banana leaf as she decided what she wanted to do next.
I was talking to Yang through Wendy as my Chinese translator. I told Wendy I felt like an orangutan in Taiwan because I understood none of the words of the language and had to watch the body language and expressions of people to make sense of what was happening.
But we stopped talking when we realized what a miraculous and complex event was unfolding. Yang squatted by the mesh totally absorbed. He said in all his years at the zoo he had never seen anything like this.
The female orangutan and her two-year-old son had begun vocalizing rapidly back and forth for a few minutes in some kind of intense conversation. They played with each other tenderly by their mouths and fingers.
The male drew closer because of the conversation and the female took the initiative in an obvious attempt to seduce him. She lay back and spread her legs while still holding the child.
Ahyong accepted the invitation without hesitation and dragged Shouquaytow to a quiet corner. He is touchy about being watched by humans he doesn't know.
But the child didn't like this lovemaking and there was a three-way conversation between male, female and child.
The child started slapping and pushing against the male, who was strong enough to overpower both female and child, but didn't.
Instead of behaving "like an animal," he relented to the discomfort of the child, who was peeing profusely out of stress.
The male, to vent his frustration, went to a corner and pulled and banged on the fire hoses used for climbing.
Meanwhile, the female tried to soothe her child with tender play, but he continued to voice his displeasure.
So, the mother didn't get the sex she wanted; the male surrendered his chance for a willing romp; and the child prevailed as the cold drizzle fell everywhere in Taipei today.
