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  Ms.
Roberts Travels To Borneo For A Jungle Encounter With Man's Distant CousinJulia Roberts just got the role of a lifetime. She's thrilled to be sharing the limelight with some relative newcomers -- mysterious, strong, silent types -- and won't be surprised if they steal more than a few scenes in this real-life adventure story. The locale is the exotic island of Borneo. Ms. Roberts travels to Indonesia to investigate the sole surviving great apes of Asia in Thirteen/WNET's presentation of IN THE WILD: ORANGUTANS WITH JULIA ROBERTS, airing on Sunday, September 12, 1999, at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). In close collaboration with Professor Birute Galdikas, who has devoted her entire adult life to protecting and studying the orangutans of Borneo, Ms. Roberts is introduced to these endangered primates and comes to understand their unique, almost humanlike intelligence. Traveling on foot and by primitive boats called kloktoks, Ms. Roberts and Professor Galdikas track the orangutans in the pristine forests of Tangung Puting. It was there that Professor Galdikas disembarked from a small boat on the Sekonyer River 25 years ago to mark a spot for the building of her orangutan research center, Camp Leakey. Professor Galdikas has made great strides in unfurling the secret life of the orangutan since she first established Camp Leakey. Today, the primate is in serious danger of extinction. Baby orangutans fetch thousands of dollars in the illegal pet trade. They are captured by poachers who have to kill the mother to wrench the infant away from her body. The baby may then be shipped off to Taiwan or China to be sold as a pet. When the orangutan reaches adulthood, it usually ends up out of the house and confined to a cage. Professor Galdikas has rescued and returned to the wild hundreds of captured orangutan infants. With more than she can handle, the orangutans continue to pour in.  ORANGUTANS WITH JULIA ROBERTS follows the chain of events from the rescue of an orangutan to its return to the forest. The film introduces people who serve as foster parents for eight years or more until an orangutan is ready to be released back into the wild. The program also visits orangutans that have been returned to the forest and shows how they still recognize their former human caretakers' voices. The reserve around Camp Leakey today is bigger than it was when Professor Galdikas arrived, but it continues to face threats from outside forces. The trees in the reserve, for instance, grow more and more enticing to the timber corporations every day. Ms. Roberts has seen firsthand the plight of the orangutan, and is determined to help preserve its last home. IN THE WILD: ORANGUTANS WITH JULIA ROBERTS is a Tigress Production. It is a co-production of Thirteen/WNET in New York and Meridian. It is produced by Andrew Jackson and directed by Nigel Cole. Series producer for IN THE WILD is Jeremy Bradshaw. Executive producer for Thirteen/WNET is Fred Kaufman. IN THE WILD: ORANGUTANS WITH JULIA ROBERTS is made possible by Ford Motor Company and by the nation's public television stations. TV Schedule | Feedback | Previous Features Teacher's Guides | Contest Winners | Puzzles & Fun PBS Online Thirteen Online |