From Orphan to King

Production Details

Kusasi was a 2-year-old orphan when he was brought to Camp Leakey in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park. 30 years later, he has become a king among Orang-utans. This film tells the life story of Kusasi. It comes now because Kusasi is facing a life-threatening crisis.

After 15 years at the top, he has a challenger. Over the last 6 months, another male, Win, has started to threaten him. At 30 years old, time is not on Kusasi’s side and things don’t look good for the old king. Through his story, we follow Kusasi from the camp to the depths of the jungle; from making his two-storey nest every night to his morning rounds of infant Orang-utans and the females of Camp Leakey. We unfold his past in flashbacks, and explore the social lives of adult male Orang-utans, of which comparatively little has been known until now.