The Tuanan Orangutan Research Station (2o09’ S and 114o26’ E) is located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Tuanan comprises 900 ha of peat swamp forest with a peat depth of 1-2 m in most parts (overall depth of ≤ 3.5 m), and is located in the 3,090 km2 KPHL Kapuas Kahayan Area (formerly known as the Mawas Conservation Area), along the Kapuas Murung River. Established in 2002, the study area is recovering from selective commercial logging in the 1990s and subsequent illegal logging until the early 2003. While the majority of the Mawas Conservation Area is similarly ombrotrophic, the Tuanan research station is located in a seasonally rheotrophic part of the area, with both shallower peat and a more alluvial flooding regime, and thus receives nutrients from seasonal river flooding, in addition to aerial precipitation. The Tuanan Orangutan Research Program is run through a Memorandum of Understanding between Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and Universitas Nasional in Jakarta. CORE Borneo provides funding for research and programs at the station and in the Tuanan area.
Tuanan’s orangutan population density is estimated to be between 4.3-4.5 individuals/km2 [Husson et al. , 2009; van Schaik et al. , 2005], among the highest in Borneo [Husson et al., 2009]. We have collected behavioral data as part of the research project on over 70 identified individuals. We have been collecting data on orangutans continuously since 2003 and have accumulated over 60,000 hours of focal data on orangutans.
KPHL Kapuas Kahayan Area
The KPHL Kapuas Kahayan Area comprises 309,000 ha of tropical peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan. The area is under the management of the Kapuas Protected Forest Management Unit (KPHL) and formerly was under the management of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) and KPHL. KPHL was established in 2012 to help regional government agencies and NGOs to monitor and regulate illegal activities in this legally protected forest area. KPHL Kapuas Kahayan Area is recognized as an important source of global carbon storage and is estimated to support one of the world’s largest remaining wild orangutan populations (~3,500 individuals). The Tuanan Orangutan Research Station was established within the KPHL Kapuas Kahayan Area in 2002 and today is an internationally recognized research site for the study of wild orangutans.
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