The Photo Ark: Animals of Earth New 20th Anniversary Edition
by Joel Sarotre with essays by Sy Montgomery
National Geographic (July 14, 2026) 9781426224881
Undressed by an Ape
The best place to bathe was in the river. After a hot, sweaty field day in the swamps, we volunteers would return to Camp Leakey, the rainforest research site where Birute Galdikas has studied Bornean Orangutans since 1971, and with soap, towels, and shampoo, in hand, head down the short dirt path for a cool dip in the tea-colored water.
I looked forward to these trips, but I was wary. We’d been warned against thievery. In addition to studying the huge, orange apes in the wild, Birute and her staff and volunteers have also raised a number of orphaned baby orangutans, for release back into the wild. Unafraid of humans, and enchanted with our stuff, some of these dexterous, intelligent orange apes are always lurking around camp and its environs, waiting to ambush the unsuspecting. In a flash, one young female had unzipped my backpack, stolen the microcassettes recording my interviews, and retreated to a tree where I watched helplessly as she carefully unspooled and then shredded the tapes. If orangutans got into the dormitories, they might eviscerate the mattresses (there were edible seeds in the stuffing), or eat your malaria pills. At the river, if you weren’t careful, they would eat your soup and drink your shampoo.
So I clutched the sack holding my bathing supplies to my chest that day as I walked to the river for my bath. Sure enough, an orangutan was waiting there.
The young female approached me politely. She didn’t want the sack with my shampoo or soap. She reached one leathery hand toward the back of my neck. Her thumb and forefinger closed over the pull tab of the zipper to the blue dress that served as my beach coverup. I felt her pull it down the length of my back.
It is not wise to get into a tug of war with an orangutan. An adult can grip with the force of 600 pounds, and even a young one can easily lift twice its body weight. I had seen wild orangutans push over large trees in the swamp. I just waited to see what she would do.
Gently but efficiently, she lifted the dress over my head. It was clear she had done this before. She then put her orange head through the neckline, thrust her hairy arms through the armsces, and disappeared into the forest.
I never saw that dress again.