A white baby surili with a blue-grey face held in a volunteer's hands on a forest floor of dry leaves

Mount Ciremai, West Java · 22 October 2026

Pulled from the fire.
Now its forest needs saving.

A week-old Javan surili was found clinging to a burning tree on Mount Ciremai. A volunteer firefighter carried it out of the flames and, the next morning, walked it back to its mother.

Follow the rescue

Age when found: About 1 week
Altitude: ±1,600 m
Distance to its mother: About 300 m
Troop that took it back: About 15 surili

Photo: via topik.id, AI-enhanced for sharpness

21 to 25 October 2026

The rescue, hour by hour

Pieced together from Indonesian and international reporting. Each step links to its source.

Wed 21 Oct · 20:44
The first hotspot appears
A fire is detected at the Pasawahan resort of Mount Ciremai National Park in Kuningan. By the next morning it has been burning for twelve hours and is spreading up the slopes toward Majalengka.
Kompas.id English · ANTARA Foto
Thu 22 Oct · about 23:00
A cry that wasn't a bird
Darsa, known as Dodo (51), is fighting the fire at Puncak Dulang, about 1,600 m up. He hears a faint, strange sound. By torchlight he finds a tiny surili alone on a branch of a saninten tree that is already burning, about five metres off the ground.
Jakarta Globe · Kuningan Mass
Thu 22 Oct · that night
Cutting the tree to reach it
With flames around the trunk, Dodo cuts branches and brings the tree down. The infant, a male, still has its umbilical cord attached. Weak from smoke and hours without nursing, it is carried to a tent and given milk, a little food and fresh air.
detikNews · Jakarta Globe
Fri 23 Oct · 07:00
First search: no mother
By morning the baby is calling loudly again. Dodo walks about 500 m south across ground still glowing with embers. The troop has fled. He finds nothing and brings the infant back to the tent.
detikJabar
Fri 23 Oct · about 10:00
The mother answers
He tries the unburned core zone, which the volunteers' firebreak had protected. About 300 m from the burning tree, a group of around 15 surili sits in the canopy. The team sets the baby down and backs off. A female climbs down and carries it into the trees.
CNN Indonesia · Jakarta Globe
Sat 24 to Sun 25 Oct
Contained, but still smoking
No active hotspots are found on Saturday. Crews keep cooling the Bintangot, Karang Dinding and Bukit Seribu Bintang blocks while thin smoke still rises in places.
ANTARA English

Outlets disagree on the exact night of the rescue. Most, including Jakarta Globe, detikJabar and CNN Indonesia, give Thursday 22 October around 23:00. One Kompas video gives Wednesday night and one iNews report gives Friday afternoon.

The fire

Puncak Dulang is now ash

Surili share this ridge with Javan lutung, macaques, barking deer, wild boar and leopards. The park confirmed surili habitat burned, and says it does not know exactly how many surili live on Ciremai. The summit has no water, so crews relied on helicopters and hand-cut firebreaks, which kept the flames out of the core zone where the troop sheltered.

30 ha: burned, per West Java's governor. The park's first estimate was 50 to 60 ha.
500: personnel clearing slope channels of dry wood to act as firebreaks.
~6: water-bombing runs by helicopters from the TNI, Air Force and BNPB.
4th: fire on the mountain this year at least, after blazes in September and earlier in October.

Footage

From the fire line

Clips filmed on the mountain and shared online. They load from YouTube only when you press play.

Kompas.com video report24 Oct 2026, in Indonesian
Kompas TV bulletinKompas Siang, in Indonesian
@hermansuryatman on InstagramWest Java's regional secretary, whose post first spread the rescue

The rescue moment

YouTube · TRUE STORIES CHANNEL

"The white monkey" at the fire

YouTube · Wahyu Hasianta

Presbytis comata · Javan surili · grizzled leaf monkey

Found nowhere but Java

A slender, long-tailed leaf monkey with grey fur, a pale belly, a dark face and a crest of hair. It lives only in the forests of western and central Java. The West Java government estimates just 4,000 to 6,000 remain in the wild. It was the mascot of the 2016 National Sports Week hosted by West Java.

The rescued baby's white coat is why so many people first took it for an albino. Surili infants are born pale and turn grey as they grow.