The nest that won't hold yet
Every evening, before it goes dark, an orangutan bends branches in the canopy and builds itself a new nest to spend the night. Togar's mother does it in a moment, almost without looking. He's been trying the same thing since he was very small, beside hers, branch over branch, just the way he sees her bend them. And almost always it collapses on him. He doesn't call it failure: it's the pure determination of an infant, of someone who wants to do it himself, right now. He shows off the half-made nest, proud — "look, I made one" — and adds without drama that it fell apart, "but almost." The next day he tries again. That back and forth between "not yet" and "one day I will" is Togar entire. Infants start bending their first branches while they're almost babies and don't put together a firm nest until they're five; Togar is right in the middle of that road.







