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Research and publications

The project is led by Ivona Foitova, a Veterinary Doctor from the Czech Republic with an additional PhD in Wildlife Disease. She has written and been co-author on several published papers and articles related to her research on orangutans.

RELATED SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • FOITOVÁ I, BARUŠ V, KOUBKOVÁ B, MAŠOVÁ Š, NURCAHYO W. (2010). Description of Lemuricola (Lemuricola) pongoi – male (Nematoda: Enterobiinae) parasitizing orangutan (Pongo abelii). Parasitology Research
  • FOITOVÁ I, HUFFMAN M.A., NURCAHYO W, OŠANSKÝ M. (2009). Chapter 10. Parasites and their Impacts on Orangutan Health in “Orangutan Geographic Variation in Behavioral Ecology and Conservation” – Oxford Press to be edited by Serge A. Wish, Suci S. Utami, Tatang Mitra Setia & Carel P. van Schaik. pp. 157 – 169.
  • FOITOVÁ I, KOUBKOVÁ B, BARUŠ V AND NURCAHYO W (2008). Presence and species identification of the gapeworm Mammonogammus laryngeus (Railiet 1899) (Syngamidae: Nematoda) in semi-wild population of Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) in Indonesia. Research in Veterinary Science, 84 (2), 232-236.
  • FOITOVÁ I, BARUŠ V, HODOVÁ I, KOUBKOVÁ B, NURCAHYO W (2008). Two remarkable pinworms (Nematoda: Enterobiinae) parasitizing orangutan (Pongo abelii) in Sumatra (Indonesia). Helmintologia, 45, 4: 162 – 168.
  • BARUŠ V, FOITOVÁ I, KOUBKOVÁ B, HODOVÁ I, ŠIMKOVÁ A, AND NURCAHYO W (2007). The new nematode, Pongobius hugoti gen. et sp. n. from the orangutan Pongo abelii (Primates: Hominidae). Helmintologia, 44 (4), 162-169.
  • FOITOVA, I, DUSEK, L, OLSANSKY, M AND MARTELLI, P. (1997) Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of Invasion of Strongyloides sp. in Orang-Utans (Pongo pygmaeus) - A Case Study from Singapore Zoo. Journal of Helmintology 34(3):17

STUDENT RESEARCH

On occasion, students have the opportunity to conduct orangutan research of their own in conjunction with and under the guidance of Ivona. Being very familiar with the difficulties and frustrations involved in obtaining all of the necessary letters and permits required in order to conduct research in Indonesia, Ivona is glad to assist and sponsor students when funding and timing make this possible. This is beneficial not only to the student, but to Ivona’s own research goals. Two of her students, both of whom initially worked for the project, are featured below.

Dave Dellatore

Dave first worked in Indonesia in 2001, volunteering with the Orangutan Foundation in Kalimantan until 2003. He has a BA in biological anthropology from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and an MSc in Primate Conservation from Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

Dave worked with OHP from April 2007 - October 2007 as part of his MSc research, specifically working under Ivona to conduct behavioural research on the ex-captive orangutans living near Bukit Lawang. During this time, his research yielded many interesting findings, with the most pronounced being two cases of mother-infant cannibalism occurring in the study population. The cannibalism events have since been published in the scientific journal Primates, with Ivona as a co-author (Dellatore DF, Wait C, Foitová I. Two cases of mother-infant cannibalism in orangutans (2009). Primates.I.F. 0.966). Also, an edited version of his thesis, conducted from his time working with OHP, is due to be published in an upcoming American Society of Primatology book on Primate Tourism.

Since April 2008 to present, Dave has been based in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, working with both the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) (www.orangutans-sos.org) and with SOS's main partner organisation, the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) (www.orangutancentre.org). These NGOs focus mainly on community based conservation measures that serve the orangutans and their forest homes, as well as the people living alongside them.

Dave says: “Perhaps someday I shall concentrate on earning a PhD, but for the moment I am happy enough with my work and its results for conservation - so sitting in an office in Medan all day writing grant proposals and reports is bearable. Give it a few more years and I’ll be mucking through the forest chasing apes again!!!”

Clare Hunt

In April 2005, Clare left her job in London to become a Project Assistant for OHP for six months. She had a great experience working for the project and living in a different culture. She returned to work in London, but really missed the jungle and the challenges of the project. She went back to Sumatra for a holiday in May 2006 and was offered the role of Project Coordinator. She decided to accept the job and continued in the role until December 2008.

Clare says, “It really was a life changing experience and I already feel nostalgic about this time in my life. I am now back in the UK, having just had a baby. My plan is to do a masters degree in the next year or two. In collaboration with Ivona, we set up the collection of research data on the health of the semi-wild orangutan mothers and infants in the Bukit Lawang area. There has been a high number of orangutan infant mortalities in Bukit Lawang and we hope to find out if this is related to diet and the close proximity of the semi-wild orangutans to humans.”