Volunteers Rescue Baby Javan Surili From Mount Ciremai Fire and Reunite It With Mother
A baby Javan surili estimated to be a week old was rescued from a burning tree on Indonesia's Mount Ciremai on Oct. 22, 2026. After providing emergency care overnight, volunteers returned the infant to its mother the next morning.
An overnight rescue
Darsa, a 51-year-old volunteer firefighter, was helping fight the wildfire in West Java's Kuningan Regency when he heard an unfamiliar cry around 11 p.m. The volunteers were about 1,600 meters above sea level.
"As we began moving in to extinguish the flames, we heard a strange sound. At first, I thought it was a bird," Darsa said Saturday.
Following the cries, the volunteers discovered a male infant with a blue face and white fur gripping a small branch of a burned saninten tree. Its umbilical cord was still attached, and it was extremely weak. They carried it away from the fire and gave it emergency care.
When the infant improved, the rescuers searched for its mother. The next morning, they located a group of surilis roughly 300 meters from the rescue site, left the baby in a safe spot and stepped back to avoid scaring the group. A female came down from the trees, picked up the infant and carried it back to the other surilis.
Fire in a shrinking habitat
The rescue occurred during a fire that had been burning since Oct. 22. In an Oct. 23 report by ANTARA Foto, the Mount Ciremai National Park Authority (BTNGC) said about 60 hectares in Kuningan Regency were affected and that the blaze was spreading into Majalengka Regency.
Mount Ciremai is home to a population of Javan surilis. A study by Supartono in 2010 estimated that 186 individuals lived in 26 groups within the national park, according to a 2024 book from Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).
The species is native to western Java and lives primarily in conservation areas and protected mountain forests there. Its numbers have fallen as its forest habitat has come under pressure. The West Java provincial government estimates that 4,000 to 6,000 remain in the wild.
The BRIN book reports a different estimate of fewer than 2,500 individuals and identifies the Javan surili, Presbytis comata, as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It attributes the continuing population decline to hunting, deforestation and habitat fragmentation.
Citing Nijman & van Balen's 1998 research, the book says the species had lost about 96 percent of its habitat, with the area shrinking from roughly 43,374 square kilometers to 1,608 square kilometers.
Protection and species characteristics
Indonesia legally protects the Javan surili under Ministry of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. P.106/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/12/2018 on protected plant and animal species. It is also listed on CITES Appendix II.
There are two subspecies: Presbytis comata comata in western Java and Presbytis comata fredericae in central Java. The surili was selected as a mascot for Indonesia's 2016 National Sports Week, which West Java hosted.
Adults have grayish fur. BeritaSatu describes their body length as approximately 40 to 50 centimeters, not including the tail, and their weight as around 6.5 kilograms. The 2024 BRIN book gives a head-and-body range of 430 to 595 millimeters and a tail length of 560 to 724 millimeters, with males weighing about 6.5 kilograms and females about 6.7 kilograms.