Perimeter Students Explore Primates in Indonesia and Design Conservation Program

In Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, endangered primates are struggling to keep a foothold in their native tropical forests. This past summer, three students and an anthropologist faculty member from Georgia State University’s Perimeter College spent weeks there, studying the Javan gibbons, the moor macaques – and the grassland and jungles those animals call home. The students made observations, gathered extensive information and created a primate conservation educational program to share with school children. They also discovered what life could be like as an anthropologist.

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Perimeter College student Santiago Balbin wiped the sweat from his eyes as he picked his way down the trail. The humidity under the rainforest's canopy was almost tangible, and the mud that had invaded his boots was slick.

He and his group paused, looking up at the forest's roof and listening for the “bwoop, bwoop” calls that would signal arrival of the tree-dwelling Javan gibbons they sought.

The gibbons are among the most endangered species on earth. Conservation groups estimate about 2,500-4,000 of the primates are still living, with about 1,000 of those residing in Mount Halimun Salak National Park on Java, the main island in Indonesia. Their numbers have steadily declined as deforestation and encroaching settlements stripped away their habitats.

A slight sound prompted them to turn as one toward movement in the trees.

There, through jungle leaves, the elfin shape of an adult gibbon silhouetted against broken sunlight. Soon another showed, and then another, calling to each other, swinging branch to branch 30 meters off the ground.

The scene was why Balbin was there. He was one of three Perimeter students who traveled to Indonesia for a summer program to study the primates and share the information they gathered. Phoenix Rosso and Marijahma Aset El-Holloway, both anthropology pathway students, also took the trip to Indonesia and conducted research alongside Balbin.

“I had never been out of the country before, so it was a very new experience. I learned how vast the world is,” Rosso said. She shared that working with children in another country was challenging but her experience working with children helped the progress of keeping the students engaged to learn more about the primates.

The program was about “how to bring awareness to the species and protect them and ourselves in the process." Rosso’s aspiration is to one day work on the linguistic and cultural side of anthropology and create a program similar to what they are doing in Indonesia.

The students’ conservation program was well received by both the children and teachers, El-Holloway said. “We did in-person and physical movement games and take-home activities. The children approached each game with excitement and paid attention. They seemed very engaged,” she said.

The experience in designing and implementing the program abroad required El-Holloway, Rosso and Balbin to be swift thinkers. “How our vision translated to international audiences – that helped us to improvise and be quick on our feet. It helped us to utilize our social skills to build and grow in an unfamiliar terrain,” El-Holloway said.

One of El-Holloway’s favorite parts of the trip was working with and learning from other college students.

“It was wonderful to be able to collaborate with them on similar topics and issues, and to also see that GSU is global. Our global initiative is doing an excellent job with having us be across the globe and still carry that GSU pride. Just seeing how other students do things and then we can draw on that similarity of success.”

The students were accompanied and led by professor Amanda Ellwanger, who was lecturer at Perimeter College for six years and is currently an assistant professor in GSU's Department of Anthropology.

Places like the Javan rainforest – where untouched wilderness meets and sometimes is overwhelmed by the swelling wave of civilization – fascinate Ellwanger. They’re what she travels the world to study.

“It started as a little kid – I've always been interested in people and anthropology," said Ellwanger. "But I wouldn't say [my research] is a separation of humans and animals. We're also animals. We're embedded in these shared landscapes, and we mutually influence each other."

Ellwanger specializes in "behaviorally flexible" primates – versatile, resourceful species who can adapt to different habitats, including human ones. To work on her dissertation, she traveled to South Africa to study Chacma baboons and observe how they were adapting to increasing human pressures. Now, she focuses on Indonesia's primate populations.

During this year’s trip, made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation and funding from Perimeter College's Center for Outreach, Research and Engagement (CORE), Ellwanger opened the door for undergraduates to explore "what it feels like to work as an anthropologist." The Perimeter students traveled with her to experience Indonesia, not as tourists, but as scientists, spending three weeks collecting data and educating others on conservation methods.

"Participating in research experiences, it makes a huge impact on students,” Ellwanger said. “They are more likely to graduate and to go into STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] fields. The goal of this grant is to reduce barriers to participation … .”

The program fast-forwards students who are in their first and second year of college so they can experience the upper-level academic work, research, field study and collaboration in which an anthropologist engages. Participants do not have to be anthropology majors; Balbin studies biology.

Food, lodging and airfare were covered through the NSF's "Build and Broaden" grant and Perimeter's CORE, both of which offer opportunities to minority students who might not have access to deep financial resources.

But the trip was not a vacation. The students worked long days while in Indonesia. They dedicated extensive preparation time prior to the trip.

Before leaving, they attended learning conferences, visited the Atlanta Zoo to speak with the keepers and started work for their culminating project, a conservation outreach program for Indonesian third-graders.

The Perimeter students departed Atlanta June 26 on the 30-hour flight to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. They traveled to Java, where they began to follow anthropologist itineraries in which beach days were out and long work days were in.

Joined by students from San Diego State University, the Perimeter students spent a week taking cultural tours in the city and making gibbon observations an hour and a half south at Gunung Halimun Salak National Park.

Next came a short flight to the Indonesian island, Sulawesi, where they linked with students and faculty from Hasanuddin University in Makassar. The next two weeks were spent in the field or in learning workshops, with a few days for urban immersion in the city of Makassar and learning from local conservation organizations such as Kiara, a nonprofit that studies Javan gibbons and promotes the community’s conservation awareness.

The Hasanuddin students also helped the Perimeter students bridge cultural gaps for their “Hati Hati Monyet” (or Be careful monkey!) presentation they would deliver in person to a third-grade class of Indonesian children. The program taught the children about the lives of the Javan gibbons and the moor macaques, another endangered primate group in Indonesia that was included in the project.

Work didn’t halt completely as soon as the Perimeter students returned to Atlanta. They reviewed and compiled their findings for a presentation at an annual Georgia State symposium in August.

Ellwanger liked seeing her students gain experiences and skills – from focal sampling and scan sampling observation methods to hiking in a jungle climate to learning how primates can simply disappear into the canopy. She also appreciated other experiences the trip afforded her students.

"Traveling to another country, the language is completely different, the food is completely different, the climate is completely different,” Ellwanger said. “What is your new normal in this environment? [How do you learn] Indonesian cultural norms and history and specific things, like finding ATMs, bathrooms and electrical plugs for your devices?"

That learning is part of being an anthropologist, too, she said.

Balbin admitted he was tired by the end of the trip. But he captured so many irreplaceable memories: He turned 21 while there and was able to celebrate with students from across our country and across the world. He loved the villages, enjoying a bowl of noodles and the Indonesian dish Bakso and practicing his Indonesian with his hosts.

When his group made its presentation to the school children, the youngsters were so excited to see them, to listen to the American students talk and to play learning games with them.

Balbin said eyes were opened to the Indonesian culture around him. In the cities, seeing the flow of life, the shadow puppet shows and the motorcycles zooming through traffic; and then, in the country, walking the forests or visiting local conservation experts to learn from the guides and academics.

"It was awesome," he said. The people, the travel, the field work, those three weeks of his life. "I loved it. I loved every second of it."

Story by Ben Austin

Photo Courtesy Amanda Ellwanger