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[Josh Greenman <josh.greenman AT gmail.com>]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7987364/Fat-orang-utan-put-on-diet.html
(with photo!)

Fat orang-utan put on diet

An overweight orang-utan is changing her ways after becoming the
fattest primate in Britain.

Published: 1:41PM BST 07 Sep 2010

For Oshine there will be no more sweets, jelly and marshmallows and
instead she will be getting a healthy diet of fruit, vegetables and
plenty of exercise.
The tubby orang-utan weighs in at a whopping 100kg - double her
natural body weight.
Keepers at Monkey World in Dorset say they are changing her diet and
putting her on fruit and vegetables - like other primates - until she
loses her belly.
Oshine arrived at the rescue centre from South Africa having been kept
as a pet for 13 years. Her sedentary and unnatural lifestyle meant her
weight rocketed.
Her owner first contacted Monkey World in 2008 when she realised that
she could not offer Oshine a good or natural lifestyle being kept as a
pet.
It has taken time to secure and arrange her arrival at Monkey World,
but thanks to South African Airways she landed safely at Heathrow
Airport on August 31.
The journey was not an easy one and, with the endangered orang-utan's
poor physical condition, special arrangements were made for the
10.5-hour journey from Johannesburg to London.
Dr Alison Cronin, director of Monkey World, said: ''We have been
working to give Oshine a more natural life with others of her own kind
for more than a year.
''The long-haul journey for such a delicate endangered species such as
an orang-utan is fraught with difficulties and danger.
''With Oshine's weight problem we were especially concerned about her
travel arrangements and making sure that the journey was stress-free
and safe.''
The Monkey World team went to Johannesburg, with a specially designed
transport box, several days prior to the move in order to get to know
Oshine and familiarise her with the orang-utan transport crate.
After two days of ''playing'' in the box, the door was shut for good
and Oshine was on her way to a more natural life in the UK.
''Getting to know her, making friends, and playing in the travel crate
days ahead of the journey made a real difference as we did not have to
anaesthetise Oshine to get her to go into her travelling crate,''
added Dr Cronin.
Although a fully-grown adult, Oshine is now living in the orang-utan
creche at Monkey World that receives any captive-born babies in Europe
whose mothers abandon them.
She is now receiving a more natural, healthy diet and meeting others
of her own kind for the first time.
The Monkey World team are optimistic that Oshine is on the road to a
more healthy life - both physically and mentally.
Once she loses weight, gets fitter, and understands more about
orang-utan behaviour, she will ''graduate'' into one of two breeding
groups of orang-utans kept at Monkey World, where it is hoped that she
can start her own family.
''Now that she is at the park, we have her on a healthy diet of
vegetables and fruits and she is getting a lot more exercise climbing
through the specially designed, two storey orang-utan creche,'' said
Dr Cronin.
''It will take a few months for Oshine to reach a more appropriate
weight and then she will be ready to meet a new man and consider a
family of her own.''
Monkey World is home to Europe's only orang-utan creche.
As members of the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP)
for this species, Monkey World not only breeds orang-utans, but also
offers a home to any babies born in European zoos and that are
orphaned.
In the creche orphaned babies are cared for by a team of dedicated
primate care staff and an adult female orang-utan, A-mei.
A-mei is surrogate mother to the young orphaned orang-utans, Dinda,
aged four, Hsiao-Ning, seven, and Joly and Lingga, both five.
The main threat to the orang-utan in the wild is habitat loss due to
the logging of primary forest for agricultural land and, in
particular, the unsustainable palm oil industry.
They are also used in the entertainment industry or as pets and,
although this is illegal, it is a growing industry in south-east Asia.
Monkey World also breeds the critically endangered golden-cheeked
gibbons and woolly monkeys at the park, as part of the EEP.