A young Sumatran orangutan born and raised at Perth Zoo is about to be released into the wild in Indonesia, the third the zoo has sent there.
Perth Zoo is the only zoo in the world breeding the critically endangered species in captivity and releasing them in their native habitat, making history in 2006 when 14-year-old female Temara was freed.
She was tracked for three years while she settled into the jungle, but male Semaru was not so lucky, dying from a snake bite aged seven, 17 months after being released in 2011.
Nyaru, an eight-year-old male, is now being prepared for his flight to Indonesia on Tuesday.
After being raised by his mother, Nyaru underwent the zoo's five-stage jungle school program, which includes exposure to live trees, socialising with 12 other orangutans and learning orientation and nesting skills.
He's even had his diet varied to reflect the "boom and bust" nature of foraging in the wild and get him used to Indonesian fruits, primate supervisor Holly Thompson said.
"Nyaru has been prepared since birth," she told reporters on Friday.
Ms Thompson said Nyaru was inquisitive and playful, but "not too sooky" with his keepers, which instilled confidence he would transition to independence comfortably.
"He doesn't need us any more and it's time for him to join his wild cousins," she said.
Ms Thompson said Perth Zoo keepers would spend a few weeks settling him in and providing handover advice to his new carers before his release into protected rainforest in Sumatra's Bukit Tigapuluh region in a few months.
Peter Pratje of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, which runs the re-introduction program along with the Indonesian government, said the release would be "soft".
"We don't drop them into the forest and hope they do well. What we do is a long-term monitoring program," Dr Pratje said.
"We very intensively follow the orangutans day by day, from when they start getting up in the morning around 6am to when they go to sleep at 6pm or 7pm."
Data of captive-bred orangutans' behaviour was compared to that of wild orangutans to ensure they were adapting well, he said.
Since 2003 more than 160 orangutans orphaned and exploited by the pet trade have been rehabilitated and released into Bukit Tigapuluh.
There are about 6500 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, threats including habitat loss due to rubber and palm oil plantations, and poaching.
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