Photographs by Peter Loud

Gembira Loka Zoo, Yogyakarta, 2013-14

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Orangutan, Female, 2013

I spent a couple of mornings at Gembira Loka Zoo. It was much more enjoyable than I expected. My main interest was to photograph the orang-utan and the Komodo monitors. Unfortunately for me, well-fed animals prefer to lie in the shade doing nothing, not pose for photographers.

My favourites were the orang-utan. They were very gentle and much of their behaviour was very human-like. If you are visiting Yogya, I recommend a visit to the zoo. The best time is early on a quiet weekday.



Orangutan, Female, 2013

I was fascinated to see this female use the tyre as a bucket. She took it to the water's edge, dipped it in until it filled with water, pulled it out then took it away to have a drink, a wash then poured the remains over her head. She then went back to refill it.

This behaviour puzzles me. I have read many reports on the media about animals using tools and making a big thing of such animal intelligence. This orangutan did it and it was not a big issue.



Female orangutan.



This young orangutan was my favourite. He played like a child and nagged his mother to play too.



I like this shot, but everyone gets it wrong. They think it shows that the orang-utan have bad living conditions. They have reasonable conditions. They are simply looking out of their window. The room behind the window is probably bigger than the hotel room I had, and they had a big outdoor enclosure.



This old male is in an out-of-the-way cage, a big cage, by himself. He looks very sad and unhappy.



A 500Rp note from the 1990s




The chimpanzees were not the cute, adorable juveniles that people are used to seeing. To me, they seemed very aggressive, a big difference to the gentle orang-utan.




Komodo Monitor,

Those claws are used for ripping open their prey.


They were still lying around doing very little in 2014



Tiger

There are also the usual animals like tigers, elephants, zebra etc..





Small-clawed Otters, 2014
They were a delight to watch. They were so cute and playful.






Northern Cassowary, (Casuarius unappendiculatus).

Southern, or Australian, Cassowary
Cassowaries, The world's most dangerous bird.
I saw two different types of cassowary, and I am confused which is which. One has a red neck with a what appears to be a small single wattle, the other a blue neck with two red wattles.




Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus)
Surely the ugliest bird in the world.



Rhinoceros Hornbill, (Buceros rhinoceros)



Pelican, (Pelecanus conspicillatus).
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belly can,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I'm damned if I see how the helican!
Dixon Lanier Merritt (1879 - 1972)



Buffy Fish Owl, (Bubo ketupu)



Emerald Tree Monitor (Varanus prasinus)



Saltwater Crocodile



False Gharials



Burmese(?) Python



Blood Python.
If a dog found that in his food bowl, he'd get a shock ;-)


Images Copyright Peter Loud, 1970-2015


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