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This is Durrell. Jersey's famous wildlife conservation trust. | 0:00:07 | 0:00:13 | |
Outside, the animals enjoy the sunshine. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
Inside, one very special creature is being closely watched. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:22 | |
Dana, the Sumatran orang-utan, is almost ready to give birth. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:27 | |
Staff are anxious about the arrival of her baby | 0:00:27 | 0:00:30 | |
because Dana's last pregnancy ended in tragedy. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:34 | |
Here, Dana and the other apes live safely, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
but her wild relatives are on the edge of extinction. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:41 | |
These orang-utans live on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
It's one of their last wild strongholds. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
They cling on as land is cleared and burnt to make way for industry. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:56 | |
But with half of the island's rainforest already gone, | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
can they survive? | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
I really get sick up of seeing just the scale of destruction. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
You see fires, you see plantations going. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
Not just a few trees being chopped down here, | 0:01:08 | 0:01:11 | |
but whole landscapes being converted. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
Dana's keeper, Gordon Hunt, is making the hard journey to Sumatra | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
to see for himself what can be done to help these great apes. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
He knows it's going to be tough. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
I'm expecting to see cages full of orphaned orang-utans, | 0:01:25 | 0:01:30 | |
which is...not great. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
He's come in search of the refugees of the lost rainforest. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
Day one. And Gordon's going deep into the jungle. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
Road? What road? There is no road. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
It's a boggy ravine, rut, riverbed mixture of... | 0:02:03 | 0:02:08 | |
No track at all. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
But this is the only way | 0:02:21 | 0:02:22 | |
to get to the orang-utan release site in northern Sumatra, | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
where he's going to meet a man | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
who's devoted his life to saving these animals. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
Today, Dr Ian Singleton's home is in the jungle, | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
but he was once a keeper at Jersey Zoo. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:40 | |
While Gordon wrestles with the rutted road, | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
his orang-utans in Jersey are on his mind. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
Good girl, Dana. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
He's got two expectant mums to think about - Anette and Dana. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
And just like any pregnant mums, they're having ultrasound scans. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:01 | |
Dana's scans are crucial because her last baby was stillborn | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
and she almost died. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
Luckily, this time, she's in the hands | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
of Jersey hospital's Neil MacLachlan, consultant gynaecologist. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
We are concerned as to how she's going to perform in this pregnancy | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
because she's never actually had a live-born baby before. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
So we've been watching today on the scan | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
to see if the baby is developing well. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
Gerald Durrell's intention was never to imprison endangered animals, | 0:03:27 | 0:03:31 | |
but to protect them. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
Captive breeding is now a vital part of the wildlife trust's work. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
Because who knows if one day these Jersey-born youngsters | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
will be among the few orang-utans that remain. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
Back in the forests of Sumatra, it's thought there are fewer | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
than 7,000 orang-utans left in the wild. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
They're being pushed to the edge of their habitat | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
as nature and industry compete for space. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
Here, vast palm oil plantations have replaced the jungle. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:06 | |
There are still thousands of hectares of forest, | 0:04:11 | 0:04:13 | |
alive with some of the world's rarest species. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
The Great Argus pheasant. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
And one of the biggest forest geckos in the world. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
At the top of the tree, the orang-utans. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
They are among the world's most critically endangered great apes | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
and protected under Indonesian law. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
But despite this, many will end up here with Ian | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
at Sumatra's only rehabilitation project | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
in the far north of the island near Medan. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
Ian takes in rescued and injured animals in the hope | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
they can be one day released back into the jungle. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:09 | |
The orang-utans that come here are mostly confiscated illegal pets. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:15 | |
So they come in from back gardens, where they've been kept in a cage | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
or chained up by the neck or something like that. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
One or two of them have come here | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
because we've had to rescue them from the wild | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
because they were in patches of forest that were being destroyed. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:31 | |
And usually, if we do that, we'll release them immediately | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
in another safer area of forest. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
This is Ian almost 20 years ago looking after the apes in Jersey. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:44 | |
The passion to protect them began here at Durrell. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
In my early zoo career, | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
I felt I enjoyed working with the animals | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
and working closely with them | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
and not working with people and being responsible for them. | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
And when I started at Jersey Zoo, I really liked the fact that | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
I ended up on the orang-utans | 0:06:03 | 0:06:04 | |
and we built a new enclosure in the far corner of the zoo | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
so I could go up there and just hide with my charges and get on with it. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:12 | |
Naturalist and author Gerald Durrell | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
inspired a generation of readers with his love of wildlife. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:19 | |
About the otters, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
if we could have a sort of cement thing about two foot... | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
Three foot? Yes, about three foot wide. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
The zoo was his ark and home to orang-utans since the 1960s. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:35 | |
He hoped they would teach his visitors | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
that their fate is in our hands. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
If we can indoctrinate people as they come through our gates, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:45 | |
if we can indoctrinate them with the idea that it's terribly sad | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
that creatures are being killed all over the world | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
in hundreds of thousands, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
and if, during the course of our existence, | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
we can save one or two species from extinction, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
then the whole thing would be... | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
It would be worth it, certainly. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:05 | |
The Durrell Wildlife Trust is now an international organisation | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
and it supports Ian's work in Sumatra | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
with funding, equipment and publicity. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
Indonesia is one of those counties where Jersey | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
didn't traditionally have a big role and a big influence. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
Even today, it's still not that well known. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
And I would like to change that by showing people by example | 0:07:26 | 0:07:31 | |
exactly the kind of things that can be achieved | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
by following Durrell's philosophy. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
After hours of hard driving, | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
Gordon has almost made it to his destination. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
A boat ride across the River Aceh welcome relief from the muddy roads. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:59 | |
He's come to the jungle reserve | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
where Ian Singleton is waiting to meet him. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
Morning. Hey. How's it going? Good. You? | 0:08:05 | 0:08:09 | |
You have any trouble on the trip in? No, it was fine. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:13 | |
It was a bumpy ride, but, yeah, it was pretty good. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
Ian is taking Gordon to the site | 0:08:17 | 0:08:18 | |
where orang-utans who have been rehabilitated in quarantine | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
are finally set free. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:23 | |
For me, it's massively exciting. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
Is it still massively exciting for you to see the finished product? | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
It is, it is. Because this is...this is what the whole thing's about. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
And I still get a massive kick out of it when I come out here | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
and see Marco or somebody hanging about in the trees. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:41 | |
And they're behaving just like wild orang-utans. It brings it home. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:46 | |
Because when you first meet a lot of these animals, | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
they're little, skinny, covered in fungus, chain around their neck, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
really terrified of people. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
And then to get them from that stage, out through the quarantine | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
and they're living as wild orang-utans again, | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
you feel like everything you're doing is worthwhile. Yeah. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
This is Udin. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
At about six years old, he was confiscated by police | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
who found him near the swamps where he used to live. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
Ian's team says his home had been burned and cleared for industry, | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
making him vulnerable to the illegal pet trade. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:20 | |
Given to Ian's team, Udin has been learning how to feed himself | 0:09:20 | 0:09:24 | |
and make nests. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
Wow! Look at that. Ooh! | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
Is he going to open the door himself? Yeah. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
Oh! You're very enthusiastic. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
Udin is one of about 30 orang-utans | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
rescued each year by Ian's organisation. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
It's taken two years to get him ready for this, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
but there's always a risk. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:46 | |
I feel much better giving an animal a second chance | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
at a life in the wild, and maybe it's lucky and it makes it, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
maybe it's not so lucky and it doesn't make it, | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
but I feel much better giving them that chance. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
Great to see them out of the cages. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
I think Udin is in... Looks like he's in really good condition. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:06 | |
Bright eyes, wet nose, glossy hair. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
It's the moment Ian's been waiting for. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
Oh, look at that. Straight up. Wow! Fantastic, yeah! | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
Look at that! That is brilliant. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
Up the liana. Go on, off you go, mate. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
Wow! A whole new world. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
As Udin ventures out to explore his new home, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
he won't be left to his own devices. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
Like the other orang-utans released here, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
he has a transmitter chip in his neck, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
so his progress can be tracked. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:15 | |
For Ian, new developments are playing a growing role | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
in efforts to save the species. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
Yeah, there's two up there. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
See that big branch up there? | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
See that big branch? Yeah. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
So, that is the signal from one orang-utan? | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
So, who is it? Nelly. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
Nelly, yeah? | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
But they're not the only orang-utans in the world being closely watched. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
In Jersey, Anette and Dana are having a regular checkup. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
Touch. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
Ape keeper Sarah Foulkes has trained them | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
to position their tummies against the cage so they can be scanned. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
Hold, hold. Good girl. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
Scanning an orang-utan's a little bit different from a human | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
because an orang-utan is not quite as obliging. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
So sometimes you see things that maybe look unusual | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
or you're not expecting to see. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:07 | |
And that partially can be just because it's the complications | 0:12:07 | 0:12:11 | |
and the logistics of trying to scan an animal | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
that's hanging on bars rather than lying down. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
In April, Anette gave birth | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
in the middle of the night to a healthy male. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
He's been named Jantho after the release site in Sumatra. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:26 | |
Now all eyes are on Dana. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
Her story is interesting and amazing | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
because she came to Jersey to breed with the male there, Dagu. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:41 | |
She did so very quickly and she went full term, | 0:12:41 | 0:12:47 | |
eight and a half months with the youngster, | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
which turned out to be a female, but she had a stillborn. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
The placenta sheared off inside her | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
and we almost lost her as well as the youngster. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
She was bleeding to death. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:00 | |
But this time, medical science is helping Dana. Good girl. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
There's a lot more amniotic fluid than before, as well. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:10 | |
Would you like me to do anything? No. Just keep going. Hold. Hold. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:14 | |
Neil MacLachlan operated on her fallopian tubes | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
so later she could become pregnant. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
Now he's making sure his patient's latest pregnancy is going to plan. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
That's the heartbeat. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
It's a departure from his daily routine at the hospital. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
That looks nice and regular. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:37 | |
I was really interested in the breeding programme | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
and because one of my big interests is in fertility, um... | 0:13:41 | 0:13:46 | |
And because Durrell is all about breeding endangered species, | 0:13:46 | 0:13:50 | |
it was just a wonderful place to go and get involved with. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:54 | |
There were occasions where they felt they needed to compare | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
with a sort of human doctor, as it were. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
All's well in the hospital today, but Neil once had to perform | 0:14:02 | 0:14:06 | |
an extraordinary operation on an orang-utan. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
She needed an emergency Caesarean. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
We need some oxygen. Get the oxygen on. Turn the baby over. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
Neil went up to Durrell to carry out the surgery. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:19 | |
As these incredible pictures show, he was able to save the baby. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:23 | |
185, 186. OK. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
Thankfully, the anatomy was very similar. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
I'd never done this before, but I just...pretended I was operating | 0:14:28 | 0:14:33 | |
on one of my human patients that just was a little bit hairier than normal. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
And it was incredibly similar. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:40 | |
We thought initially that maybe the baby wasn't going to survive. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
INDISTINCT | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
And after many minutes, when he threw his arms up and started crying, | 0:14:54 | 0:15:01 | |
there was a great roar from everyone in theatre. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:05 | |
and it was really a very emotional moment for everyone. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:10 | |
Oh, look at him! | 0:15:11 | 0:15:12 | |
Fantastic. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:21 | |
'I said at the time that it was' | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
the greatest day of my life and my wife was not over pleased! | 0:15:23 | 0:15:28 | |
Come on then. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
Jaya is now a healthy nine-year-old | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
and is being taken to a zoo in France to breed. | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
Oh, look at his little chest. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
And now there's concern he might have to do | 0:15:46 | 0:15:48 | |
the same operation again, this time for Dana. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:51 | |
If we can keep the scanning going | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
and see that the pregnancy is developing | 0:15:55 | 0:15:57 | |
as normally as possible, then I think she'll be OK, | 0:15:57 | 0:16:01 | |
but we do need to be prepared for a similar thing | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
to what happened last time. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
In Sumatra, Gordon is waiting to hear how Dana is. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
But he's 7,000 miles away | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
and mobile phones don't work too well out in the jungle. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
Getting connected is tricky, | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
but not impossible. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:16:28 | 0:16:29 | |
Here we go. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:32 | |
Ah! Hello, how are you doing? | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
'Everything's going really well, Jantho's really good. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
'He's getting more active and he's looking around more.' | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
Fantastic. And Dana? | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
'Dana's doing really well as well. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
'She's looking like the pregnancy's developing normally. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
'She is spending more time sleeping and resting and she is getting | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
'increasingly hungry, so I think it's probably pretty soon.' | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
OK, yes. Yes. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:01 | |
That's great news. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
Safe in Jersey or deep in the jungle, both Gordon and Ian | 0:17:03 | 0:17:07 | |
are continuing what Gerald Durrell started 50 years ago. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
You knew Gerald Durrell? | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
Yes, I mean I didn't meet him a lot, but... | 0:17:13 | 0:17:18 | |
I mean, I started in '89 and I was kind of interested in this idea | 0:17:18 | 0:17:23 | |
that you can take a species that's on the brink, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
for relatively little investment compared to some of these | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
big conservation projects, relatively little investment, | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
and you can actually save a species from extinction. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
Recent research says that since 1985, | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
half of Sumatra's rainforest has been lost. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
Ian has filmed the scale of forest destruction. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
He says much of it is caused by large industries | 0:17:48 | 0:17:50 | |
demanding more land to develop. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:52 | |
He believes some of the native species, already endangered, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:56 | |
are being pushed to the brink. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
The biggest threat to most species right now | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
is not hunting and collection, it's loss of entire ecosystems | 0:18:03 | 0:18:07 | |
and by destroying them you're losing your water sources, | 0:18:07 | 0:18:10 | |
your climate regulation, and a host of other resources. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:15 | |
For me, the aim is to use these species, these iconic species, | 0:18:15 | 0:18:20 | |
that can get international attention and public support | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
in the battle to save the bigger picture, | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
to save whole ecosystems. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
Now, there is another threat on the horizon. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
More than a million hectares of protected forest, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
in the region where most of the remaining Sumatran orang-utans live, | 0:18:35 | 0:18:38 | |
could be opened up to industry. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
Conservationists such as Ian fear the animals they work so hard | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
to protect will be left more vulnerable than ever. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
Gerald Durrell's vision is being put to the test. | 0:18:49 | 0:18:52 | |
Campaigners and the regional government disagree over what's planned. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:01 | |
The head of forestry for the Aceh region says while no protected land | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
can be used for industry, there is a growing need for human settlements. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:11 | |
HE SPEAKS IN HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
TRANSLATION: So I can tell you that we do not issue | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
the land clearing permit or licence for palm oil businessmen, | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
no permits for mining businessmen or any other businessmen. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:27 | |
If you want to convert forest areas into other purposes, | 0:19:27 | 0:19:31 | |
it is purely for people's settlement. People need space. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
Gordon remains unconvinced by assurances from the authorities. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
He argues industry is competing | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
for the areas of forest the orang-utans live in. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
That competition looks like this. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
Palm oil. | 0:19:58 | 0:19:59 | |
It's farmed extensively throughout Sumatra | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
and Indonesia is the world's largest exporter. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
More than 30 million tonnes were produced this year. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
The oil is extracted from the fruit of these trees | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
and it's used in products from shampoo to biscuits. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
Indonesia Palm Oil Association says it gives people jobs. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
It says its members are committed to protecting the environment. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
But as Gordon travels further in Sumatra, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
he's worried more industries on this scale | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
could ruin the remaining rainforest. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
Finding out what's going on on the ground | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
is hard in such a vast country. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
But there are ways. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
Just a few miles from Ian's head office near Medan, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
Graham Usher and David Dellatore are testing the latest spy technology. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:59 | |
ENGINE WHIRRS | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
BEEPING | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
Yes, that should do it. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
They're working with Ian, and today they're testing a mini drone. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
One, two, three. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
Engine on. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
ENGINE WHIRRS | 0:21:27 | 0:21:29 | |
David and Graham have high hopes. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
You can use a video camera for spotting fires, | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
encroachment in the forest. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
It has been used in the past for surveying for orang-utan nests, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
which you can see from the air if you fly low enough over the forest. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:50 | |
The spy-plane can travel to remote areas | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
and its on-board camera records the scene below. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
It's the cutting edge of conservation technology. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
I see lots of interesting new technologies coming out now | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
which we will support and try and test | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
and try and refine in the field, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:15 | |
but in five to ten years, I think we're going to see big advantages | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
from all of these things. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
These young orang-utans are among those made homeless | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
as their habitat disappears. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:29 | |
There are many mouths to feed, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
many infants with no mothers, | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
many very ill. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:35 | |
Some of them are just so bad, some of them are critically ill | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
and so late in the disease progression | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
that you really haven't got much hope of saving them, | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
whereas other ones you have | 0:22:46 | 0:22:47 | |
and you just focus on the ones that you can do. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
It would be amazing to get all of these orang-utans | 0:22:52 | 0:22:56 | |
back into the wild, but there are ones that can't go back | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
for various reasons - they've been maimed so badly, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
one is blind, permanently blind, and that is really sad | 0:23:03 | 0:23:09 | |
because it requires full-time care | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
from people and they shouldn't need to. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
They should be able to return to their home where they came from. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:21 | |
But some can't. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
Gordon's preparing to say goodbye and head home to Jersey. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
He has mixed feelings. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
There are more orang-utans here than the last time I visited. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:47 | |
There are some extremely sick orang-utans being cared for. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:51 | |
One has a broken neck. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
Another one has been bitten by a dog. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
It's quite tragic really to see them. | 0:23:57 | 0:24:01 | |
And they are all, as Ian describes them, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
refugees, being looked after in this refugee camp. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:09 | |
No-one knows what future these animals are facing, | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
but Ian's not giving up on them. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
It's like what Gerald Durrell always said, | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
the happiest day of my life will be the day I can close the zoo | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
because it's not needed any more. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:24 | |
The happiest day of my life would be the day | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
I could stop doing this job because I didn't need to do it any more. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:30 | |
Durrell, Jersey. Gordon's back at work. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:39 | |
Dana's baby is due any day now. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:43 | |
It's been eight and a half months in the waiting | 0:24:43 | 0:24:45 | |
but no-one quite knows when the baby will come. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
And worried staff are doing all they can to keep an eye on her. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
Cameras are recording and sending pictures to the laptops | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
and phones of everyone involved in her welfare. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:57 | |
They've been rigged up specially, | 0:24:57 | 0:24:59 | |
some updating mobiles every 15 seconds. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
There are hours of anxious watching and waiting. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
If Dana gives birth to a healthy orang-utan, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
in terms of it being miraculous, then I think it's close. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
If you think that most new life is miraculous in itself, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:24 | |
then the process that we have gone through | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
so that she is able to conceive is a miracle of science. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:34 | |
One night in June, staff see her behaviour changing. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:42 | |
She's preparing her nest. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
At 11.45pm Gordon's patience pays off. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
Here it comes, here it comes. | 0:25:57 | 0:25:59 | |
Here it comes. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:00 | |
This is it, that's the head. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
That's it, it's out. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
That's it. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:08 | |
Yes, it's alive, it's moving. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
It's moving. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:15 | |
She's only minutes old. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
It's life in Dana's arms | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
when only a few years ago this new mum faced death. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
These animals are incredible characters. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:44 | |
Realising that their characters are so different | 0:26:44 | 0:26:46 | |
and being able to help them is very special. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:50 | |
They're very close to humans. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
Dana and Anette's babies are growing up. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
The efforts of Gordon and Neil have helped | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
bring two new babies into the world. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
She's still learning. She is. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
Dana and her baby are venturing outside for the first time. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
But how will Anette respond to the new addition | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
to the Durrell family? | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
Captive orang-utans could become the last of their kind | 0:27:30 | 0:27:34 | |
if their relatives die out in Sumatra. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:38 | |
Hundreds of species go extinct | 0:27:40 | 0:27:43 | |
but what we're seeing now | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
is an increase in the amount of extinctions that occur. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:51 | |
The timeframe is shorter, and the reason is us. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:56 | |
He's echoing the fears Gerald Durrell raised | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
more than 40 years ago. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
It's the most incredible, the most beautiful garden, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
and what have we done? | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
We've trampled through it with our great hobnailed boots. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
For better or worse, | 0:28:14 | 0:28:15 | |
the Sumatran orang-utan is at the mercy of human intervention. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:19 | |
Understanding the close links between our species and theirs | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
is the key to their survival. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
Watch this. It is amazing. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:04 | |
The BBC and the OU, inspiring learning. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:09 | |
You can see why humans value this so much. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
It can have a significant impact on the rest of your life. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:21 | |
What happens next depends on us. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:25 |