Going APE!

Young orangutan Eden branches out on her own in the Sumatran forest

- IAN MACEWAN

The Jungles episode of landmark 2019 Netflix wildlife series Our Planet introduced viewers to Eden, a cute infant orangutan with a distinctive spike of ginger hair, living with her mother Ellie on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Now the makers of Our Planet have returned to Sumatra to catch up with Eden, her extended family and other orangutans sharing their forest habitat, and the footage they captured can be seen in the new feature-length documentary Secret Lives of Orangutans, narrated by Sir David Attenborough (see box, bottom right).

As we rejoin Eden, now eight, the arrival of a new sibling is the cue for her to become more independent, and the film follows her as she strikes out on her own.

Here, director Huw Cordey talks us through some of the challenges that lie ahead…

MUMMY’S GIRL

Since we last saw young Eden, she has been spending her time with her mother, learning useful life skills.

‘The relationship between a mother orangutan and a baby is one of the longest and strongest in the natural world, after humans,’ explains Huw. ‘That’s because it takes such a long time to learn how to navigate through the forest on your own, as well as finding out about other aspects of the rainforest, such as what the dangers are, where to find food and what food is edible.’

OH, BROTHER!