Orangutans go ape over garden waste

Pruned foliage from the Botanic Gardens is being fed to orangutans at Orana Wildlife Park to liven up their diet.

Staff at the Gardens have been developing a relationship with the wildlife park that will see them donating plant material that is useful either as food, something to play with, or will improve enclosures for the animals and birds.

Lizzie Bristow, of the Botanic Gardens, with a load of green waste destined for Orana Wildlife Park.

 Two loads of pruned foliage from the Gardens that would otherwise have been dumped as green waste have already been delivered to Orana at McLeans Island by Gardens staff.

 That included a goody bag of mulberry, roses, day lilies, bamboo, elm, kawakawa, mahoe (whiteywood), and coprosma grandifolia dropped off for the orangutans in December. Fern fronds and banana palm leaves were provided for the great apes to play with.

Operations Manager Gardens and Heritage Nicky Brown is co-ordinating the project and says the two organisations are developing an ongoing co-operative relationship that will bring benefits for both.

 “This is a win-win. The animals get to supplement their diet with a wider range of foliage and food and their lives are enriched by plant they can play with, and we get to reduce our green waste,” she says.

 “We hope that through this relationship we can share stories about the synergies and links between animals and the plants they rely on, so there’s a whole educational side to this.”

 The Great Ape Centre at Orana Wildlife Park has three orangutans – Charlie, 37, and two females Melur, 27, and Wanita, 39, who arrived in late November. Ms Brown says they are particularly enjoying the Gardens’ greenery.

 “For the orangutans, they’re here for two years and there’re not as much tropical plant material here as there was in Auckland for them. Even if we can provide a few banana palm leaves, that provides some variety and enrichment benefits for them.” 

Charlie, the orangutan, is enjoying his 'snacks' from the Botanic Gardens.

A vet-checked list of useful plants – including flowers, seeds, leaves and fruit - has been compiled and when Gardens ground staff cut back these trees or plants a load of foliage is collected by an Orana Wildlife Park staff member.

 Gardens staff are helping out with botanical expertise and advice on what plants could be used for landscaping at the wildlife park, such as the spider monkey island enclosure where the residents regularly leap into the flax bushes for fun.

 They’re also helping the park staff with plans to set up their own nursery of plants that the animals like to snack on – known as “browsing material”.

 Waste bark chips and large tree stumps and logs from the Botanic Gardens are also needed by the wildlife park for the tiger and lion enclosures. Fern fronds and other native tree foliage that has been cut back in the Gardens is being used as leaf litter in the kiwi house and kiwi breeding units.

 Orana Wildlife Trust Chief Executive Lynn Anderson said having green waste donated by the Gardens was “awesome”. “Many of our endangered animals, from gorillas and orangutans to native birds such as kakariki, need browse as part of their diet  - they love it. Some of the plant material supplied by the Gardens, such as banana palm, is especially valuable because we simple cannot grow it. This is a great relationship with the Gardens and Council."