Tuanan Orangutan Research Program

30/12/2025

New Lab Publication: long-term data on wild Tuanan orangutans

We recently published an article in Science Advances, a paper we have been working on for years. We started this project in 2011, and further developed it in 2014 to take a detailed look at the effects of daily variation in nutritional intake on energetics in wild Bornean orangutans. You can check out the press release here: We thank the Tuanan team of field staff (Tono, Idun, Suwi, Rahmadt, Abuk, Isman, Nadi, Suga, Awan), who collected most of the data for this project....

We recently published an article in Science Advances, a paper we have been working on for years. We started this project in 2011, and further developed it in 2014 to take a detailed look at the eff…

30/12/2025

Publication alert: Congratulations to William Aguado and team!

This year, doctoral candidate William Aguado published one of his dissertation chapters "Nutritional Importance of a Liana Species for a Population of Bornean Orangutans ", focusing on the importance of Bowringia callicarpa, a liana species that the Tuanan orangutans feed on almost every day! Despite including over 500 species/items in their diet, Tuanan orangutans obtain 22% of their daily calories from this one species alone. You can find it here:

This year, doctoral candidate William Aguado published one of his dissertation chapters “Nutritional Importance of a Liana Species for a Population of Bornean Orangutans “, focusing on …

30/12/2025

Natalie Robinson awarded a Leakey Foundation Dissertation Research Award!

Congratulations to Ph.D Candidate Natalie Robinson for receiving a Leakey Foundation grant for her dissertation research "Ecological drivers of orangutan reproduction at the Tuanan Research Station”. We are so proud of Natalie and all she has accomplished. Natalie will head to the field in March to begin her field work in Indonesia in collaboration with UNAS and BRIN. The Tuanan team is happy to have her return!

Congratulations to Ph.D Candidate Natalie Robinson for receiving a Leakey Foundation grant for her dissertation research “Ecological drivers of orangutan reproduction at the Tuanan Research S…

30/12/2025

Shaniya Utamidata was awarded a Planet Forward Correspondant position

Shaniya Utamidata, a master’s degree student in Ecology and Evolution, was recently awarded a Planet Forward correspondent position from George Washington University because of her work in the Storytelling Lab. Utamidata came to Rutgers in part to study science storytelling with Dena Seidel and began investigating hours of video that featured scientists at the Rutgers Marine Field Station. In the process, Utamidata imagined her own film story for her Masters thesis that explores how methods used to study New Jersey’s Great Bay Mullica River Estuary might be applied to protect ecosystems in her home country of Indonesia....

Shaniya Utamidata, a master’s degree student in Ecology and Evolution, was recently awarded a Planet Forward correspondent position from George Washington University because of her work in the Stor…

30/12/2025

Congratulations to Eva Hernandez Janer for receiving best student poster at the 2025 AMNH Student Conference on Conservation Science and also for receiving her NSF DDRIG!

It has been a while since we updated all of the many accomplishments of the lab, so I am going to be updating this with past and more recent events. Last year, Eva received her NSF DDRIG for her project "Assessing the Impact of Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances on Wild Orangutan Health in Central Kalimantan". Eva also presented the first chapter of her exciting research and won the best student poster at the AMNH Student Conference on Conservation Science. Eva is now finishing processing samples for stable isotope analyses and is writing up her dissertation. Congratulations Eva!

It has been a while since we updated all of the many accomplishments of the lab, so I am going to be updating this with past and more recent events. Last year, Eva received her NSF DDRIG for her pr…

08/04/2021

I am so happy to announce that Dr. Liz Ballare successful defended her doctoral dissertation titled "HEALTH EFFECTS OF REHABILITATION AND REINTRODUCTION IN BORNEAN ORANGUTANS (PONGO PYGMAEUS WURMBII)". Liz has a huge adventure ahead of her and will begin a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Thibaud Gruber at the University of Geneva funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Together with Dr....

I am so happy to announce that Dr. Liz Ballare successful defended her doctoral dissertation titled “HEALTH EFFECTS OF REHABILITATION AND REINTRODUCTION IN BORNEAN ORANGUTANS (PONGO PYGMAEUS …

14/12/2018

Hey all - we are posting all of our media now on the CORE Borneo twitter feed - make sure you follow us on twitter to keep up to date with all of the great Tuanan news!

The latest Tweets from CORE Borneo (). CORE Borneo is a registered (U.S.A.) non-profit NGO 501(c)(3). We support research at the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station in Indonesian Borneo. United States

27/02/2018

Look what Conor Harbeck found today - a mother tariser with her infant

Look who we saw today in the forest - Tarsier and her infant. Conor Harbeck - one of our Tuanan researchers found this female while out in the forest.

18/12/2016

To all of our friends, we are going to move all of our TORP media and postings to CORE Borneo https://www.facebook.com/COREBorneo/?ref=bookmarks
our new NGO. Please follow CORE Borneo on Facebook and Twitter

CORE Borneo supports orangutan and peatland conservation by conducting research, training future scientists, and engaging local communities in outreach

23/09/2016

CORE Borneo's education team paints trash bins and cleans up the communities together (video produced by Maya Rumpe, all rights reserved)

28/02/2016

Once a year we (people, forest, and orangutans) enjoy this spectacular moment. Caterpillar and Butterflies season!! At the beginning of this year, orangutans enjoyed the juicy caterpillars, trees are thankful to butterflies that help pollination, and people are dancing with the beautiful butterflies.