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UCF alumnus Paulo Maurin, Ph.D., shares tales of adventure in his newly-published book “The Hugging Orangutan Chase: Narrative of encounters with animals and people across the Hawaiian and Indonesian Archipelagos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maurin currently works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation program in Hawaii. During his first seven years, Maurin participated in joint international work between the United States Agency for International Development and NOAA. This work frequently took him to the Coral Triangle region\u2013an area which includes the tropical marine waters around the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This epicenter of coral biodiversity houses more than 500 different species of reef-building corals.<\/p>\n
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It was his travels to Indonesia in particular that brought about many of the adventures he writes about in his book. During a side trip to Sumatra, Maurin joined a local tour group and ventured into the forests to seek orangutans in their natural environment, without the touristy operations of rehab centers. This trek ultimately inspired the creation of his book, and was the source of the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hiking first, along with a local guide, with the rest of our small tour group behind,\u201d Maurin said. \u201cSuddenly, the branches are breaking angrily in front of me, and the guide shouts to run back. He tells us that this particular orangutan will try to catch and hug us to demand food. For a moment, I thought that was a beautiful thing, but he said it was dangerous. I started to run, and thought that it would make a good story someday.\u201d<\/p>\n
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After being chased by the hugging orangutan, Maurin\u2019s tour group came upon a mother and a baby orangutan feeding in the trees above. The group quietly sat down on the ground to observe. Maurin started mimicking the apes by grabbing nearby leaves, and then the roles switched \u2013 the young orangutan started observing this strange human.<\/p>\n
\u201cI then ran out of leaves to pretend to eat, so I stopped,\u201d he said. \u201cThe baby orangutan that was feeding right above me looked at me, broke off a thin branch full of green leaves and dropped it in front of me. He didn\u2019t want me to go hungry. I was so inspired by the juxtaposition in behaviors \u2013 aggressive and caring \u2013 that I thought I should really write these stories down somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
This orangutan encounter was not the first time Maurin had a personal encounter with an animal. While pursuing a graduate degree in organizational communications at UCF, a baby manatee approached Maurin while he swam in a spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor ten minutes, this very playful young manatee would mimic my movements and ask for a belly rub,\u201d he said. \u201cThese sort of close encounters, where one gets to experience the individuality of an animal, have a powerful effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
This encounter inspired Maurin to study manatee causalities during his time at UCF. His research found a correlation between newspaper stories featuring manatee deaths and subsequent purchases of \u201cSave the Manatee\u201d license plate tags as a donation to manatee conservation groups. This enabled Maurin to understand the threats society faces and how conservation steps are taken after these threats receive media coverage.<\/p>\n
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He took this research further as he pursued his doctorate degree in information sciences at the University of Hawaii, M\u0101noa. Converging his academic interests and conservation efforts, he focused his studies on near-shore marine resources and management after seeing how local citizens united to protect a sunken volcanic crater in their area. Near the end of his degree, Maurin obtained the fellowship with NOAA in Washington, D.C. that ultimately led to his travels and future job as the coordinator of Education and Fellowship programs for NOAA, working to assist conservation and manage marine resources.<\/p>\n
His work involves a lot of technical writing, so the feat of writing a book allowed Maurin a creative outlet to express himself. With encouragement from his wife, children and a trip to Iceland, Maurin began to document his stories of adventure. His book came together after a year and a half. Maurin wrote the book, designed the layout, created the cover and self-published via Amazon\u2019s Kindle Direct Publishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith self-publishing, there is no need to worry about being at the mercy of a publisher,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2019The first audience should be the writer. The writing process should be fun, otherwise it might never get done.\u201d<\/p>\n