DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND – NHNZ, Blue Ant Media’s New Zealand-based factual television production house creating original content for global broadcasters, announced today that it is currently in production on a new HDR natural history docu-soap, Orangutan Jungle School (10×60’HDR).

Commissioned for Love Nature, home to the largest 4K wildlife and nature library in the world, Orangutan Jungle School follows the hilarious antics, triumphs and tragedies of a group of orphaned orangutans as they progress through a unique forest school system. The series is filmed at Nyaru Menteng, in Borneo, Indonesia,

where the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) manages the largest primate rescue and rehabilitation project in the world. Blue Ant International oversees the docu-soap’s licensing, which will be featured at MIPTV 2018.
Orangutan Jungle School introduces audiences to BOSF’s highly skilled team who rescues orangutans that have been displaced from their habitat because of forest destruction, separated from their mothers or kept illegally as pets, and teaches them the skills necessary to return to the wild. Once in the care of BOSF, they have the chance for a future of freedom – but the road back to the wild is long as they embark on the various stages of their education. The nursery, five stages of forest school and pre-release islands teach the orangutans essential lessons for survival. The charismatic and intelligent orangutans have distinct characters and viewers are guaranteed to become emotionally invested in their journey to freedom. The docu-series is an entertaining and fascinating insight into the world of orangutans, which will foster awareness for the plight of this endangered species and the fragile ecosystem in which these charismatic apes lead their lives.

In the jungle classroom, lessons range from cracking open a coconut to nest building, snake awareness and how to become an expert climber. The youngest students are less than one year old and the oldest are the equivalent of human teenagers. Adolescent and adult graduates wait their turn for wild release on special river islands.v

The docu-series’ “cast” includes an all-star line-up of best mates, rivals and prima donnas, including:

• Valentino: the class clown who BOSF carers hope will smarten up enough to graduate.
• Mema: a picky eater who thinks snack time is gross.
• Malika: the clumsy toddler who doesn’t know how to climb.
• Big-bellied Beni: the glutton who has to go on a diet.
• Kesi: the inspiring amputee victim whose hand was cut off by a machete as she clung to her mother’s back. Nothing stands in her way and she’s always at the top of her class, even in climbing!
• Cinta: one of Jungle School’s cleverest, boldest and most resourceful students. She is full of surprises!