Constance L. Russell
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada <

Applying social construction theory to the study of other animals, this article reports research conducted on ecotourist constructions of orangutans. Two "stories" dominated: Orangutan as Child and Orangutan as Pristine. The cultural and historical specificity of these constructs as well as their implications for conservation are discussed.

Ecotourism, an industry in which tourists travel specifically to natural areas to enjoy the scenery, animals and plants, has grown immensely in popularity in the past few years. Primarily for financial reasons, it is now touted by conservationists and developers alike as a panacea for environmental woes and has become one of the principal ways people living in post-industrial Western society encounter wild animals. Not surprisingly, then, environmental educators are now also advocating the use of ecotourism as a positive nature experience (See Russell, 1994a).

Recent work on the social construction of nature and of other animals has suggested, however, that environmental educators ought not assume ecotourists are perceiving their experiences in precisely the manner intended (Evernden, 1992; Noske, 1989; Russell, 1994b). "Nature" and "animal" are culturally and historically specific and cannot be considered innocent categories immune from the influences of gender, race, nationality, class, or sexuality (Haraway, 1989; Lewontin, 1991; Tapper, 1988/1994). Nor can the implications of these constructs be deemed insignificant; as Lawrence has succinctly suggested, these "[c]ultural constructs determine the fate of animals" (1994, p. 184).

Investigation into the cultural and historical specificity of our understandings of other animals is a relatively new area of research and has already begun to result in a rich body of work. For example, Herzog (1991) and Rajecki et al. (1993) have illustrated how categorizations of other animals (eg., as food, pet, or feral) affect their treatment, Davey (1994) has suggested that spider phobia may be culturally specific, Quinn (1993) has noted the influence of art on cattle breeding, and Fiedeldey (1994) has explored culturally determined aesthetic preferences for certain wild animals.

It would seem sensible to suspect, then, that perceptions of animals encountered through ecotourism would also be culturally and historically specific. Writing about tourism in general, Urry posits:

When we 'go away' we look at the environment with interest and curiosity. It speaks to us in ways we appreciate, or at least we anticipate it will do so. In other words, we gaze at what we encounter. And this gaze is...socially constructed and systematized (1990, p. 20).

Why Orangutans?

As a member of the great ape family, the orangutan is our evolutionary cousin, and, as such, lies at the taxonomic boundary dividing human and non-human primates. Currently, the dominant voice in creating the orangutan story is science (Haraway, 1989). The majority of books and articles written about orangutans are found in the academic scientific literature which usually emphasizes their biology or those qualities or behaviors which, like their development of tool use, hint at their evolutionary convergence with humans. There are also a growing number of articles appearing on orangutan conservation issues, most of which rely primarily on scientific guidance. As well, there is a smaller body of literature aimed at zookeepers and laboratory workers that examines management techniques for captive orangutans to ensure their utmost productivity.

Yet there remain other descriptions of orangutans, usually confined to introductions in academic works as humorous, condescending interludes before the serious stuff. We learn in almost every account that orangutan originated from the Malay words meaning "man of the forest" and about the aboriginal myths of orangutans being former humans who committed some misdeed and now live as beasts in the forest. We hear how the first colonial explorers greatly anthropomorphized the orangutans, attributing to them modesty, great intelligence, and even speech, although it was felt they did not allow humans to hear them speak lest they be forced into labor (for examples, see Peterson, 1989; Schwartz, 1987; Quammen, 1988).

Such stories might sound fanciful to our post-modern ears but they do reflect a different relationship to orangutans and, in some accounts, reflect an understanding which may better portray their magnificence. I am not saying that these other accounts ring truer for me than do those produced in the name of science; I am a product of my culture, after all. Rather, I use this example to demonstrate that the meanings of "orangutan" can be contested.

This struggle for meaning is at the heart of my research. I am interested in applying social construction theory to the study of the ecotourism experience. What are the different stories created about orangutans within the context of ecotourism? And what significance might these different tourist tales have for conservation?

The Orangutan Project and Earthwatch

I conducted my research at the Orangutan Research and Conservation Project in the Tanjung Puting Reserve in the southern coastal rainforests of Indonesian Borneo. The funding of many long-term wildlife research and conservation efforts is precarious and the Orangutan Project is no different. Thus in 1984, the director, Canadian primatologist Birute Galdikas, began to collaborate with an American non-profit organization, Earthwatch, whose mission is to provide funding for research projects that "improve human understanding of the planet, the diversity of its inhabitants, and the processes that affect the quality of life on Earth" (Earthwatch, 1993, p. 94).

Earthwatch offers laypeople the opportunity to participate in research activities for two to three weeks. From observing whales in Hawaii, collecting air samples in the Arctic, excavating prehistoric sites in Siberia to weighing echidnas in Australia, there are currently over 150 scientific projects from which to choose.

The Orangutan Project is among the most popular of the Earthwatch expeditions. Tourists help research and conservation efforts through such tasks as following wild orangutans for up to 15 miles a day to gather data on their feeding behavior, carrying food 15 miles to rehabilitant ex-captives, or carrying ironwood seven miles through thigh-high swamps to build a park hut. Obviously, this is not typical fun-in-the-sun travel nor does it reflect most ecotourism expeditions.

Who are These Ecotourists?

Like other Earthwatch expeditions, participation in the Orangutan Project is not cheap: in 1992, Earthwatch fees were $2100 US in addition to return airfare to Borneo which, from North America, costs close to $1500. In general, 60% of Earthwatch members are female and range in age from 16 to 85 with a median in the mid-40's. They are mostly American (89%), with the remainder representing the United Kingdom (10%), Australia (1%) and about 20 other countries who don't make up a full percentage point (Ranney, personal communication, 1993).

Each project, of course, attracts a certain clientele. For example, a shark project in Florida has many teenage participants whereas some of the archaeological digs of native sites in the United States appeal to retired couples. The composition of the Orangutan Project's teams with whom I was involved was as follows: of the 21 tourists, 16 (76.2%) were female and five (23.8%) were male. There was equal representation of Canadians, Americans and Australians with six (28.6%) each; the remaining three (14.2%) were British. The majority (81.0%) were engaged in professional jobs of some sort with the exception of three students (14.2%) and one clerk (4.8%). Most (76.2%) had already traveled extensively, with an emphasis on ecotourism ventures. For example, many of the tourists had been on some version of an African safari. Particularly striking was that all were members of a conservation or animal welfare organization in their respective countries.

Methods

I conducted a case study with the tenets of naturalistic inquiry in mind, that is, I acted as a participant observer and allowed the issues and some aspects of the research design to emerge over time (Lather, 1991; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The 21 subjects were participants in two different Earthwatch teams of 11 and 10 members in the fall of 1992.

At our first introductions, I informed the groups that I was conducting research on the relationship between ecotourism and conservation and would, if they were willing, talk to each of them individually about their experiences. All members were interested in my work and agreed readily.

I spent the first week of each group building a rapport with the other tourists and engaging in informal conversations to identify key issues. As I was a tourist myself and participating in the same activities as they, I had plenty of opportunity to interact with all of the tourists. At least daily, I recorded my observations and reflections in a journal.

During the second week of each group, I had intended to conduct interviews with each tourist, taping them on a mini-recorder. After discussing this idea with a number of fellow tourists in the first group, it became obvious that it would be inappropriate. First, the days were long and tiring and many did not want to be recorded, let alone interviewed, when they were feeling so sluggish. Second, there was some dissent directed towards Galdikas about the logistics of the expedition and some members described themselves as "on edge." So, in respect of their wishes, I instead continued with participant observation and informal guided conversations and gathered more formal data later by sending out a post-expedition questionnaire. Sixteen of the 21 (76.2%) replied.

As I analyzed the data and began writing, I conferred with one tourist from each group to ensure that I was accurately describing our common experiences. Once I had completed an initial draft, I sent summaries to each tourist, Earthwatch and Galdikas; those who commented did so favorably.

Results

Reporting of the participant observation and questionnaire data is integrated since the questionnaire responses reinforced the participant observation data. The two characteristics or qualities most often ascribed to the orangutans were that of being childlike (43.1%) and that of being pristine or wild (27.7%). Other characteristics included being frightening or intimidating, intelligent, human-like, strong, playful, and smelly, as in Table 1:

Table 1. Frequency of Characteristics Ascribed to Orangutans by Ecotourists

Coded from Questionnaires

The Social Construction of Orangutans: An Ecotourist Experience

Constance L. Russell
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada

Applying social construction theory to the study of other animals, this article reports research conducted on ecotourist constructions of orangutans. Two "stories" dominated: Orangutan as Child and Orangutan as Pristine. The cultural and historical specificity of these constructs as well as their implications for conservation are discussed.

Ecotourism, an industry in which tourists travel specifically to natural areas to enjoy the scenery, animals and plants, has grown immensely in popularity in the past few years. Primarily for financial reasons, it is now touted by conservationists and developers alike as a panacea for environmental woes and has become one of the principal ways people living in post-industrial Western society encounter wild animals. Not surprisingly, then, environmental educators are now also advocating the use of ecotourism as a positive nature experience (See Russell, 1994a).

Recent work on the social construction of nature and of other animals has suggested, however, that environmental educators ought not assume ecotourists are perceiving their experiences in precisely the manner intended (Evernden, 1992; Noske, 1989; Russell, 1994b). "Nature" and "animal" are culturally and historically specific and cannot be considered innocent categories immune from the influences of gender, race, nationality, class, or sexuality (Haraway, 1989; Lewontin, 1991; Tapper, 1988/1994). Nor can the implications of these constructs be deemed insignificant; as Lawrence has succinctly suggested, these "[c]ultural constructs determine the fate of animals" (1994, p. 184).

Investigation into the cultural and historical specificity of our understandings of other animals is a relatively new area of research and has already begun to result in a rich body of work. For example, Herzog (1991) and Rajecki et al. (1993) have illustrated how categorizations of other animals (eg., as food, pet, or feral) affect their treatment, Davey (1994) has suggested that spider phobia may be culturally specific, Quinn (1993) has noted the influence of art on cattle breeding, and Fiedeldey (1994) has explored culturally determined aesthetic preferences for certain wild animals.

It would seem sensible to suspect, then, that perceptions of animals encountered through ecotourism would also be culturally and historically specific. Writing about tourism in general, Urry posits:

When we 'go away' we look at the environment with interest and curiosity. It speaks to us in ways we appreciate, or at least we anticipate it will do so. In other words, we gaze at what we encounter. And this gaze is...socially constructed and systematized (1990, p. 20).

Why Orangutans?

As a member of the great ape family, the orangutan is our evolutionary cousin, and, as such, lies at the taxonomic boundary dividing human and non-human primates. Currently, the dominant voice in creating the orangutan story is science (Haraway, 1989). The majority of books and articles written about orangutans are found in the academic scientific literature which usually emphasizes their biology or those qualities or behaviors which, like their development of tool use, hint at their evolutionary convergence with humans. There are also a growing number of articles appearing on orangutan conservation issues, most of which rely primarily on scientific guidance. As well, there is a smaller body of literature aimed at zookeepers and laboratory workers that examines management techniques for captive orangutans to ensure their utmost productivity.

Yet there remain other descriptions of orangutans, usually confined to introductions in academic works as humorous, condescending interludes before the serious stuff. We learn in almost every account that orangutan originated from the Malay words meaning "man of the forest" and about the aboriginal myths of orangutans being former humans who committed some misdeed and now live as beasts in the forest. We hear how the first colonial explorers greatly anthropomorphized the orangutans, attributing to them modesty, great intelligence, and even speech, although it was felt they did not allow humans to hear them speak lest they be forced into labor (for examples, see Peterson, 1989; Schwartz, 1987; Quammen, 1988).

Such stories might sound fanciful to our post-modern ears but they do reflect a different relationship to orangutans and, in some accounts, reflect an understanding which may better portray their magnificence. I am not saying that these other accounts ring truer for me than do those produced in the name of science; I am a product of my culture, after all. Rather, I use this example to demonstrate that the meanings of "orangutan" can be contested.

This struggle for meaning is at the heart of my research. I am interested in applying social construction theory to the study of the ecotourism experience. What are the different stories created about orangutans within the context of ecotourism? And what significance might these different tourist tales have for conservation?

The Orangutan Project and Earthwatch

I conducted my research at the Orangutan Research and Conservation Project in the Tanjung Puting Reserve in the southern coastal rainforests of Indonesian Borneo. The funding of many long-term wildlife research and conservation efforts is precarious and the Orangutan Project is no different. Thus in 1984, the director, Canadian primatologist Birute Galdikas, began to collaborate with an American non-profit organization, Earthwatch, whose mission is to provide funding for research projects that "improve human understanding of the planet, the diversity of its inhabitants, and the processes that affect the quality of life on Earth" (Earthwatch, 1993, p. 94).

Earthwatch offers laypeople the opportunity to participate in research activities for two to three weeks. From observing whales in Hawaii, collecting air samples in the Arctic, excavating prehistoric sites in Siberia to weighing echidnas in Australia, there are currently over 150 scientific projects from which to choose.

The Orangutan Project is among the most popular of the Earthwatch expeditions. Tourists help research and conservation efforts through such tasks as following wild orangutans for up to 15 miles a day to gather data on their feeding behavior, carrying food 15 miles to rehabilitant ex-captives, or carrying ironwood seven miles through thigh-high swamps to build a park hut. Obviously, this is not typical fun-in-the-sun travel nor does it reflect most ecotourism expeditions.

Who are These Ecotourists?

Like other Earthwatch expeditions, participation in the Orangutan Project is not cheap: in 1992, Earthwatch fees were $2100 US in addition to return airfare to Borneo which, from North America, costs close to $1500. In general, 60% of Earthwatch members are female and range in age from 16 to 85 with a median in the mid-40's. They are mostly American (89%), with the remainder representing the United Kingdom (10%), Australia (1%) and about 20 other countries who don't make up a full percentage point (Ranney, personal communication, 1993).

Each project, of course, attracts a certain clientele. For example, a shark project in Florida has many teenage participants whereas some of the archaeological digs of native sites in the United States appeal to retired couples. The composition of the Orangutan Project's teams with whom I was involved was as follows: of the 21 tourists, 16 (76.2%) were female and five (23.8%) were male. There was equal representation of Canadians, Americans and Australians with six (28.6%) each; the remaining three (14.2%) were British. The majority (81.0%) were engaged in professional jobs of some sort with the exception of three students (14.2%) and one clerk (4.8%). Most (76.2%) had already traveled extensively, with an emphasis on ecotourism ventures. For example, many of the tourists had been on some version of an African safari. Particularly striking was that all were members of a conservation or animal welfare organization in their respective countries.

Methods

I conducted a case study with the tenets of naturalistic inquiry in mind, that is, I acted as a participant observer and allowed the issues and some aspects of the research design to emerge over time (Lather, 1991; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The 21 subjects were participants in two different Earthwatch teams of 11 and 10 members in the fall of 1992.

At our first introductions, I informed the groups that I was conducting research on the relationship between ecotourism and conservation and would, if they were willing, talk to each of them individually about their experiences. All members were interested in my work and agreed readily.

I spent the first week of each group building a rapport with the other tourists and engaging in informal conversations to identify key issues. As I was a tourist myself and participating in the same activities as they, I had plenty of opportunity to interact with all of the tourists. At least daily, I recorded my observations and reflections in a journal.

During the second week of each group, I had intended to conduct interviews with each tourist, taping them on a mini-recorder. After discussing this idea with a number of fellow tourists in the first group, it became obvious that it would be inappropriate. First, the days were long and tiring and many did not want to be recorded, let alone interviewed, when they were feeling so sluggish. Second, there was some dissent directed towards Galdikas about the logistics of the expedition and some members described themselves as "on edge." So, in respect of their wishes, I instead continued with participant observation and informal guided conversations and gathered more formal data later by sending out a post-expedition questionnaire. Sixteen of the 21 (76.2%) replied.

As I analyzed the data and began writing, I conferred with one tourist from each group to ensure that I was accurately describing our common experiences. Once I had completed an initial draft, I sent summaries to each tourist, Earthwatch and Galdikas; those who commented did so favorably.

Results

Reporting of the participant observation and questionnaire data is integrated since the questionnaire responses reinforced the participant observation data. The two characteristics or qualities most often ascribed to the orangutans were that of being childlike (43.1%) and that of being pristine or wild (27.7%). Other characteristics included being frightening or intimidating, intelligent, human-like, strong, playful, and smelly, as in Table 1:

Table 1. Frequency of Characteristics Ascribed to Orangutans by Ecotourists

Coded from Questionnaires

Where possible, I will use the tourists' own words to describe the two most prominent categories, Orangutan as Child and Orangutan as Pristine; since I assured confidentiality, however, these quotations will remain anonymous. I have not broken down the responses by gender, age or nationality for two reasons. First, the sample is so small and those categories so unevenly represented that identification of patterns might be misleading. Second, identification of some of the subjects would be possible and thus their confidentiality compromised.

Orangutan as Child

The focus of the Orangutan as Child story was on the ex-captive rehabilitant orangutans rather than their wild counterparts. Interactions were characterized by a desire for physical contact with the ex-captives, satisfaction in feeling needed and thus helpful, a tendency to evaluate orangutan behavior by human standards, and an emphasis on the orangutan's physical attractiveness and entertainment value.

With increasing Indonesian enforcement of the ban on trade in orangutans, the Project has found itself home to confiscated ex-captives. They invariably arrive young and traumatized from witnessing the murder of their mothers and from being kept in horrid conditions. Only the infants, not "unmanageable" adults, are desired in the mostly Japanese and Taiwanese pet trade at the going rate of $40,000 US; it is estimated that only one in eight infants will survive to market (Galdikas, B. M. F., personal communication, 1992).

Rehabilitation first involves quarantine in a clinic outside the Reserve to ensure that new arrivals will not transmit any diseases to the wild or successfully rehabilitated populations. The orangutans remain in this clinic until they are strong enough to live in the forest with some assistance. Until recently, these orangutans were then taken to Tanjung Puting where they would spend the day in the forest with staff learning how to climb trees, forage, and build nests. They were provisioned with food daily and slept in cages at night. Eventually, these orangutans strayed farther and farther from camp until they rarely returned for provisioning or accommodation.

Due to the central study area being overloaded with ex-captive orangutans, new sites for rehabilitation were created and the process shortened. After their stay at the clinic, the orangutans are now transported to a variety of different sites, provisioned daily but expected to sleep in the forest at night.

Rehabilitation has become a primary activity of the Project and much of their own publicity for fundraising as well as Earthwatch materials emphasize this work. Thus many of the tourists arrive expecting to work with these infants. When the first group of tourists visited the clinic, there were few infants there and Galdikas forbade contact and required foot baths prior to entry. Although each member of the team intellectually understood this rule, amidst the "oohing" and "aahing" many mentioned their desire to hold one of the orangutans.

When the second group arrived at the clinic, there was a new shipment of about 20 orangutans and a pigtail macaque, all ex-captive. This time Galdikas allowed the Earthwatchers contact with only the additional measure of a medical face mask. All the tourists in the second team were profoundly affected by that visit; not only were they deeply moved by the plight of these infants, they also felt fortunate to have had physical contact with them. One tourist wrote that among her fondest memories was the "infant clinic, our first exposure to these delightful apes."

There was only one visit to the clinic, which was 20 miles from our base upriver. Thus most of the encounters with orangutans were with ex-captives in the field. Although more difficult to access than when rehabilitation occurred at the central study site, hiking 15 miles per day carrying 20 pounds of fruit to remote feeding stations did not discourage many of the tourists. Thirteen tourists eventually chose this as their primary task. When asked why, most explained that they felt the most needed with the young orangutans.

Even for those tourists whose dominant story was not that of Orangutan as Child, this contact was prized. In the questionnaire, 100% of the respondents mentioned their thrill at having these encounters with the orangutans:

My best experience with the orangutans was holding Baby Alex at Camp Leakey.

I enjoyed the contact most... Tanya won my heart for her feistiness and Davida for her gentleness.

[I liked best] the contact with them - when they came up to you and wanted you to pick them up and cuddle them.

Similarly, during the second group's tenure, an infant gibbon who also had been a victim of the pet trade was dropped off at our base site. Wawa, named after the local word for gibbon, constantly craved our touch for at the age of six months he should still have been on his mother. If left alone, he would emit loud whimpering cries and tear around looking for human companionship. All of the tourists in the second team commented on their feelings of pleasure from interacting with him.

There was actually quite a competition for Wawa's affections among the tourists. Hence the favorite activity for some became "being with Wawa at Hotel Rimba - interacting with him" and these tourists alternated their days of provisioning the ex-captives with "babysitting" Wawa.

"Babysitting" is also an appropriate way of describing the interactions with young orangutans. The ex-captives most often encountered at the feeding station were a group of infant and adolescent female orangutans who had formed a sort of clique. They invariably "picked on" the smaller or lone orangutans and thus were admonished with comments from the tourists like: "Leave the sweet little ones alone!" or "Don't be greedy!" or "You bully!"

Still, the tourists did enjoy this "naughty" behavior. A number of comments focused on how amusing they found these antics:

[I enjoyed] watching the 'girl group' and Garnet [a wild male who came for provisioning] in action.

Entertaining us was brilliant. I could have spent many hours there each day.

I enjoyed their determination and obvious glee at being naughty!

As well, there was an emphasis on how attractive these orangutans were:

Baby orangutans are just so cute!!

I loved their little hairdo's.

Most of all, it was the physical contact that was cherished. On a number of our hikes, we encountered both adolescent and adult orangutans who wanted to be carried to the feeding station. Most of the tourists readily agreed to the absurd task of carrying these arboreal apes through the forest. Such generosity was soon abandoned by many of the tourists, however, when they realized how heavy adolescent and young adult orangutans can be, got a whiff of their pungent smell, and were urinated and defecated upon. Still, for some, these memories were treasured:

Even though they were heavy/hot etc. and I suffered heat exhaustion, carrying Herbie and Davida was a real treat. The fact that they placed their trust in us (and knew they were getting one over us by making a dumb westerner carry them!) was brilliant.

This desire for contact was usually expressed in terms of a desire to be helpful:

[Among my favorite memories were] meeting the orangutans and the way they played with us; the fact that you could get so close and be part of the Project and feel that you were doing something to help.

Yet some of the other tourists thought that this contact was not always appropriate:

Roger's need for human attention I also found delightful, but it did worry me because he seemed not to care for his own species too much and that could be difficult for him. Perhaps it's just a phase he is going through.  

For those tourists who adhered more to the Orangutan as Pristine story, there were substantial concerns about the rehabilitation methods:

Our presence...hindered the rehabilitation of ex-captives because it provided them with lots of contact (positive contact) with people, therefore strengthening their dependance.  

The continued habituation of the ex-captives to humans by their close contact with Earthwatchers and their candy is a concern - does this retard the orangutan's transition back to the wild? Probably. Will it cause Galdikas to want some ex-captives to stay dependant on humans longer so that Earthwatchers will have babies to cuddle? I think so.

In addition, many of the tourists, although excited about seeing the wild male Garnet, were quite disturbed by the knowledge that the only reason they saw him was that he, like the ex-captives, was being fed. Most felt that it was inappropriate to provision him:

I don't know what they could do to stop him, but I don't think Garnet should be coming to feeding. He's going to get lazy being fed by humans and is learning not to be afraid of us.

These concerns about rehabilitation methods and the habituation of wild orangutans fit, in essence, into the Pristine Nature story.

Orangutan as Pristine

The precise meaning of pristine and wild differed among the tourists. Some felt that the ex-captives could now be considered wild and commented on how exciting that was to them:

My favorite memory of the orangutans will remain the close contact with them, the way that they played with you out of their choice, but were actually wild, and living the life they should be.

The close contact with the ex-captives was such a privilege, but if I had to identify the 'best' aspect it undoubtedly was seeing them free. Not just the wild orangs but the ex-captives as well. No words can adequately express the sense of freedom I saw in their eyes. That look is absent from any orangutans that I have seen in captivity. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Thus, for some, the Orangutan as Child and the Orangutan as Pristine stories did overlap somewhat. For example, one tourist, commenting on her opportunity to stay overnight in the rainforest, wrote:

It was an experience that will always remain dear to my heart, lying on the hard wooden platform, mosquitoes having an absolute feast, thunder and lightning all around accompanied by torrential rain but it was all worth it to have two young orangutans snuggling up to me all night. Who could ask for more?

But for other tourists, the ex-captives were a domesticated version of the wild who could not fit into their Orangutan as Pristine story. For them, only the wild orangutans "counted" and key elements of this story were the status of being among the few Western people to encounter endangered or rare animals of the rainforest, the desire to see few other people on their travels, an appreciation of the rainforest as a whole, and the privileging of scientific understandings of orangutans.

Like me, eight tourists had travelled to Borneo explicitly to see orangutans in the wild and therefore chose to spend most of their days walking through the forest, necks craned upwards searching for signs of the red ape. Four tourists were fortunate enough to find wild ones (other than Garnet) and their excitement was palpable.

Those who did not find wild orangutans, however, did not leave disappointed. Anyone who spent a significant amount of time in the forest was rewarded with sightings of a variety of other endangered or rare animals. These encounters were cherished, and the rarer the animal the more dear the experience became.

Part of the thrill of membership in this club is its exclusiveness; we were safe in the knowledge that relatively few people have had this experience. Hence a significant aspect of the Pristine story is the lack of other people:

I was happiest when there were less people present.

  \\

I loved being in the rain forest remote from civilization.

Though I really wanted to find at least one [wild orangutan], I really enjoyed being out in the rainforest with just one other Earthwatcher and an Assistant and wasn't upset when we didn't find an orangutan - there was so much else to experience in the forest.

For this last tourist, then, it was not only the orangutans who were important but the forest itself. Asked what they liked best about their trip in general, a number of tourists had remarkably similar answers:

Being in the rainforest, riding atop a keloktok [an Indonesian boat] on a jungle river under a moonlit sky.

Riding on the boat on the beautiful Sekonyer - enjoying the reflections, the proboscis monkeys and other wildlife. The lush rainforest - walking the boundary trail and listening to the sounds, experiencing the density of life.

Travelling daily on the river to Camp Leakey which gave me great opportunities to see wildlife, to relax and to think and absorb my Borneo experiences.

The telling of the Pristine story was also heavily influenced by scientific discourse and there was extensive use of ecological and ethological terminology:

Seeing the orangutans in their own habitat .

These orangutans are so much like hominids .

It is important to preserve this sensitive ecosystem and the species diversity .

The one thing that surprised me the most was that they have intercourse facing each other and that the male does it for his pleasure, not when the female is in estrus (emphasis added).

As well, in the first group, there was intense interest in orangutan intelligence and imitative behavior due to the presence of research psychologist Anne Russon (see Russon & Galdikas, 1993). Responding to my query about what surprised them most about the orangutans, three tourists from the first group replied:

Their ability to imitate and their amazing humanness.

I think it was their intelligence and observations that got me most. The example of Siswi with the mosquito repellent outside the team house. [Siswi, the adult daughter of an ex-captive, managed to get some mosquito lotion and instead of eating it (which is what you would expect an orangutan to do), she rubbed it into her arms -probably an example of imitative learning.]

Their ability to mimic - like the repellent incident and also Davida smoking a piece of mosquito coil in the same way the Indonesian assistants smoked a cigarette.

Interestingly, the second team who arrived after Russon had returned to Canada never discussed imitative learning.

Discussion

The two stories, Orangutan as Child and Orangutan as Pristine, were not completely discrete categories; many tourists alternated between the two depending upon whether they were interacting with ex-captive orangutans or searching for wild ones. In addition, some orangutans, like the wild male Garnet who occasionally appeared for provisioning, blurred the boundaries further.

In general, however, we each mostly stuck to one story seemingly in line with our original motivations and expectations. Those tourists who came to Borneo yearning for contact with infants focused most of their attention on the ex-captives. Others who had travelled to see wild orangutans chose to spend their days in the forest. What follows is a brief speculation on the cultural and historical specificity of these stories as well as possible implications these stories have for conservation practices.

Orangutan as Child

A substantial part of the Orangutan Project is the rehabilitation program for orphaned orangutans and both the Project and Earthwatch have chosen to highlight these activities; the prevalence of the Orangutan as Child story is, in some ways, not surprising. In addition, Haraway has noticed that when presenting the early research of Galdikas and Dian Fossey, National Geographic featured the mothering aspects of their work with orphaned orangutans and gorillas (1989, pp. 142, 148).

Knowing that participation in this story was a possibility was probably a motivation for some tourists but we must still dig deeper and critically examine this need for physical contact with, and desire to help, "wild" animals. One theory, put forward by E.O. Wilson, is that all humans have a genetic predisposition to affiliation for other life (1984).

Another is that humans are attracted to particular animals because certain physical characteristics like large heads, big eyes and short limbs act as "Baby Releasers" and evoke parental care responses (Lorenz, 1981; Herzog & Burghardt, 1988). It appears, however, that it is usually creatures who share many of our traits who evoke this response. Although many incidences of humans bonding with the unexpected, like snakes, have been documented (Herzog & Burghardt, 1988, p. 83), such cases remain just that - unexpected.

Thus many conservationists are reluctant to appeal to people on behalf of less attractive animals, like reptiles or those predators whose aggressive behavior may be judged more than entertainingly "naughty," for fear that such campaigns will be ineffective. Instead they use cute and cuddly animals as targets for public awareness and fundraising campaigns. It is argued that these species will generate better public response and in the process of protecting one such species, such as pandas, countless others will also benefit. Herzog notes that this tendency to make moral decisions about the treatment of animals "based on emotional criteria such as how cute they are" marginalizes less attractive animals (1991, p. 246).

The emphasis on the cuddly aspect of wild animals can be problematic in other ways. Lawrence (1986) suggests that neoteny reflects the need, in contemporary American society, to control other animals. Thus when orangutans do not behave like well-mannered children, for example, tourists react with disapproval.

Another problem is that some people place themselves or others in dangerous situations. Talk to any zookeeper and you will be shocked to hear their tales of children riding white bull rhinoceros, adults climbing into zebra exhibits or trying to pat cheetahs through wire fences or parents dipping their child into tiger enclosures to retrieve dropped glasses or hats; the general ignorance of animal behavior is astounding (Ankenman, G. & Bird, M., personal communication, 1993).

And it is not merely in zoos that such behavior occurs. A key factor in many bear attacks is human ignorance. For example some attacks in Yellowstone National Park have been provoked by people in pursuit of "me and a bear" photographs (Herrero, 1985). It appears that many Western post-industrial people maintain a strong fascination for other animals, even to the point of wanting physical contact with potentially dangerous ones.

Whatever the reason for this attraction, it is ironic that one consequence is the pet trade in exotic, non-domesticated animals. Goodall, commenting on the irony of the chimpanzee pet trade, notes:

A good many captive infant chimpanzees end up as pets, particularly in Africa. Most belong to expatriates who rescue them, hunched and miserable, often close to death, from the marketplace or the roadside. Their mothers have been shot, cut up and sold for meat. There is little flesh on infants, and the hunters, if they are lucky, can get more money by selling them as pets. And so the trade continues (1990, p. 224).

Although well-intentioned, this desire to help perpetuates the conditions that caused these tragic situations in the first place. The feelings and actions which drive the tourist's desire to help and the pet trade are remarkably similar.

In a similar vein, Peterson discusses the irony of an ex-captive orangutan rehabilitation station in Sabah:

Sepilok was becoming no more than a large public zoo....And it became increasingly difficult for me to believe that anyone took the reintroduction project seriously, since the baby orangutans were so commonly and freely handled by so many visitors (1989, p. 246).

Thus we must ask: Who benefits from rehabilitation programs? I do not doubt the good intentions of those, like Galdikas, who are directly involved in trying to ease the plight of individuals caught up in tragic circumstances. And, indeed, I admire the incredible expenditure of time, energy and work that is required to help these needy creatures. As one tourist commented, without such programs, these orangutans would be in a lab or zoo, or dead.

But, as noted from the interactions between the tourists and orangutans, it was impossible to overlook that many of these tourists saw the orangutans as a source of personal pleasure and even a form of entertainment. Although an unlikely possibility, rehabilitation centers that banned tourists might avoid such problems. Otherwise these orangutans become martyrs to a system that needs to provide cute and cuddly animals with whom people can connect.

Orangutan as Pristine

Central to the Pristine story was the notion that ex-captive orangutans or habituated wild orangutans like Garnet did not count. Such a distinction is not trivial and mirrors the very serious issue of "hybrid" orangutans. Whether Bornean and Sumatran orangutans are subspecies or actually separate species is considered particularly important at present because of their endangered status. Thus, just as the ex-captives and Garnet are not "pure," Bornean and Sumatra orangutans who were allowed to breed in zoos are now considered a threat to genetically pure lineages and their fate is now being debated both by geneticists (Janczewski et al., 1990; Ryder & Chemnick, 1993) and zoo personnel (Perkins, 1989).

Hybrids were not an issue for the tourists but there were other signs that scientific discourse was influential, particularly in the tendency among some of the tourists to use ecological and ethological jargon. This was not surprising, of course, as Earthwatch does bill these expeditions as scientific enterprise, not as vacations.

Another part of the Pristine story that may be at least somewhat influenced by science is the valuation of rarity. Science has indeed valued the rare so much that scientists have often accelerated extinction once a species' population has reached a critically low level. For example, Bergman describes how the demise of the ivory-billed woodpecker of North America was exacerbated by science: "As the bird grew rare at the beginning of this century, scientific collecting actually contributed to its extinction" (1990, p. 229). But what of the animals encountered who are not as rare? Bergman worries that:

Too often, the fact that an animal is endangered or threatened constitutes the explanation of why that creature is important. We like animals because they are endangered, as if being endangered confers prestige and status (1990, p. 4).

Granting status in this way has powerful implications for the practice of conservation. Bell, reflecting on her experiences on the Tatshenshini river system in northern Canada and the United States, notes how a bird that is an integral part of the meaning of the area is discounted in current conservation strategies:

Common and widespread, the hermit thrush falls through the cracks of the most powerful conservation rationale. It is neither rare, endangered nor unique to the area....It is simply one of countless inconspicuous creatures lying just outside of our narrow utilitarian field of view (1993, p. 39).

Why is rarity so valued by scientists, conservationists and ecotourists? One factor may be nostalgia for a time when human impacts were not so pervasive and a yearning for the return of extinct and near-extinct species. Little suggests that nostalgia is a key element of the safari which he calls "a therapeutic experience of self-fulfillment, a release from the constraints of the fast-paced, modern, and urban world" (1991, p. 152).

Another essential element in the Pristine story is the setting: that of few fellow tourists. As Urry notes, it is the ecotourist who strives to "enjoy the unspoiled view before the crowds get there" and who desires "solitude, privacy, and a personal, semi-spiritual relationship with the object of the gaze" (1990, pp. 42, 45). And what happens when those crowds do begin arriving? Or, as Haraway asks, "How do you have a proper National Geographic -style field experience alone with the apes amidst a crowd of camera-clicking tourists bringing in needed foreign exchange" (1988, p. 92)? Urry suggests that in such situations, the "perceptual carrying capacity" appears to have been exceeded and thus new sites are sought by ecotourists.

This search for ever new sites can put tremendous pressures on wild nature. For example, Killan notes of the insatiable demand for parkland in Ontario (1992, p. 32) and Jones reports that, in Costa Rica, unanticipated numbers of people visiting Manuel Antonio National Park have forced it to close regularly to protect areas from overvisitation (1993, p. 36). Nash, in his study of the development of the concept of wilderness in American culture, concludes: "Wilderness currently enjoys widespread and growing popularity. Indeed its preservation is now threatened as much from enthusiastic visitors as from economic development" (1982, p. xi).

Although ecotourism has been promoted as an environmentally friendly pursuit, as a "non-consumptive" use of wildlife, ecotourist attraction to the Pristine may eventually result in environmental degradation, that which ecotourism purports to be trying to prevent.

Conclusion

While I cannot make sweeping generalizations from this one case study with its small sample size, I do think a number of issues have been raised that deserve further attention. Earthwatchers may or may not be not typical ecotourists; research into how nature and other animals are constructed in more traditional forms of ecotourism, like the safaris to Kenya or the expeditions to the Galapagos would be useful. The Orangutan Project attracts both animal welfare activists and conservationists: how might these different approaches to other animals influence their understanding of their experiences? And how do gender, class, age, race, nationality, or sexual orientation intersect with these constructions?

Since many conservationists tout ecotourism as one solution to environmental degradation, it behooves us to examine the social construction of nature and of animals produced by this experience to ensure that they are not counterproductive to the conservation agenda. With increased awareness of the implications of our stories, perhaps we can become more attentive to the impacts of our interactions.

In closing, I would like to leave the reader with one final idea. There remains one story that is not, and cannot be told in this account: the story of Orangutan as Orangutan by Orangutan. It delights me that there are worlds beyond our comprehension, worlds which will never be described in any tourist's tale. Let us each try to ensure their tales continue.

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