In the peatswamp of Borneo
Central Kalimantan
Halo semuanya!
My name is Eva Hernandez-Janer and I am currently a PhD Candidate at Rutgers University focusing on Human Evolutionary Sciences & Biological Anthropology. In 2022, I was privileged to be awarded the Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research in Indonesia working with critically endangered orangutans. As many of you know, orangutan populations are declining for many reasons, primarily hunting and logging, and they are essential to the biodiversity of Bornean rainforests and the globe (I will be talking more about this in later posts). It’s imperative to understand the mechanisms of how these essential apes are impacted by all these anthropogenic changes, which can help guide us in conservation efforts to protect orangutans and other endangered wildlife.
So what am I doing here?
I have several objectives during my time in Indonesia conducting my research. All of which are encompassed by trying to measure the changes in orangutans and plants caused by disturbances within and near the forest where they reside. These disturbances include past fire events, and new road construction adjacent to the field site. The way in which I measure these changes is by using stable isotope analysis (SIA) on the plants and orangutan themselves. In the field I spend a lot of my time collecting samples which include orangutan urine, hair, and orangutan foods like leaves, flowers, fruits, tree bark (upcoming blog about bark foods, coming soon), and a variety of insects! Using SIA the hair and urine can tell me a lot about orangutans experiencing stress, and the food isotopes will tell me about how their diet changes in relation to the local environment changing. Overall, my project will answer questions like, “do orangutans near the road and burned areas experience more stress than those further away in less disturbed surroundings?” if so, “how can we tell?” and “how do the plants they consume change in areas that are more, or less, disturbed?”. To answer these questions, I will try things I have never done before, like collecting orangutan urine with plastic tarps at 4:30am, climbing trees to get inside orangutan nests hoping to find strands of hair, and learning the local names of the trees and fruits from Dayak experts who have been working in these forests for almost 2 decades.
Looking forward
I’m excited to share more about my experiences, photos, and challenges in the field! Camp life in the forest of Central Kalimantan is a new experience for me; new language, new culture (especially food!), new work life, and a new community (human, and non-human). Working alongside other Fulbrighters is another exciting aspect of this experience worth mentioning… so much knowledge and expertise under one roof. These explorers are investigating topics like, pollinators and pollination (especially in bees!), the fascinating world of insects in the peat swamp (I’m learning to accept these small critters as friends), and all about the harmful compounds in plants that orangutans choose to consume.
Follow me in navigating this new environment and experience & let’s dive in further into understanding this changing world, the better, and the not-so-much-better. All for the sake of our communities, planet, and generations to come.
Hasta luego mi gente,
Gazing upon my first orangutan
Photo taken by Isabelle Betancourt
Selfie climbing up to Gismo’s nest, my favorite orangutan!
