From the Archives: Princess, the Fruit Connoisseur

 

September 19, 1979 — Camp Leakey, Tanjung Puting, Central Borneo

Some mornings stay with you forever—not because of what you taught, but because of what you were taught.

It was just before 8 a.m., and the guesthouse was still blanketed in that gentle stillness that settles in before the forest fully wakes. I had just begun a morning lesson with Princess, my sign-language-savvy orangutan daughter, when she beat me to the first word.

“Hug up,” she signed with quiet insistence.

I smiled and gave her the hug she asked for. Then she signed again, eyes gleaming with mischief: “You that food.”

Ah. So that was the real motivation behind the hug.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a guava. Before I even asked, Princess confidently signed, “sweet fruit.” Correct. I handed it to her. We repeated this little game with a second guava, and she signed the same phrase again—“fruit sweet”—as if reminding me she already knew the answer and was ready for her reward.

That morning turned into a taste-test of tropical produce. An orange became “drink fruit.” A mango? “Sweet fruit.” When I offered her a watermelon slice, she combined her favorite signs into a new phrase: “drink fruit sweet.”

She was inventing compound words—building her own vocabulary using the signs she already knew.

And when I tried to quiz her with something trickier, like the leaf symbol on a hat, she didn’t hesitate. “Leaf,” she signed, correctly and immediately.

But it wasn’t just language. It was preference, curiosity, humor.

She looked into my pocket after I told her it was empty. She discovered a hidden bag of peanuts and signed, “open food.” I opened it. Of course I did.

She wasn’t just communicating. She was thinking. Classifying. Creating new ideas. Asking. Testing. Trusting.

That morning, Princess wasn’t just a student—I was. And what she taught me, through fruit and signing, was this: Communication isn’t about mastering language. It’s about connection.

And when an orangutan tells you she wants “drink fruit sweet,” you listen.

— Orangutan Dad