Marion Pellicano Ambrose
| Pongo is a cutie, don't you think? |
Pongo is a handsome adult male orangutan whose cheek pads (also called flanges) have grown quickly as he has matured. He started his life as an infant at a tourist attraction and was the first ape to be cared for at the sanctuary.
When he was nearly eight years old, Pongo was moved to his permanent sanctuary home in Wauchula where he has met and lived with three other orangutans, Christopher, Mari, and Pebbles. Now that they are adults, Pongo still has a few play dates with Christopher, but like typical territorial male orangutans they sometimes compete for the attention of the females, Mari and Pebbles. Currently Pongo lives full time with Mari. They spend their days traveling through the forest woods in the elevated tunnel chute system or hanging around in their 35-foot tall habitat with large cypress-tree climbing structures.
The orangutans have a wide variety of play materials including barrels, culverts, tires, fire hose swings, barge-rope vines, giant rubber tubs for pools, as well as more naturalistic toys such as tree branches, banana leaves, palm fronds, coconuts, bamboo poles, and sand piles. Pongo has always liked playing in water and when he was younger, he used to drag one of his big tubs over to his drinking spigot and fill it with water to splash in.
But, now as a fully-developed adult male, Pongo has become more subdued in his play behavior. He spends much more time alone watching the goings-on at the sanctuary from inside a large culvert, or from behind a shady tree in the overhead tunnels. Pongo takes his blankets to make a nest inside his night house each night… but occasionally he likes to sleep outside. The long, red hair on his back and arms has grown to nearly three feet and is extraordinarily beautiful.
His favorite foods are spinach, Romaine lettuce, bananas, jakfruit, and butternut squash. He absolutely HATES any foods with flour like crackers, bread, cookies, and pretzels.
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