Project Hope: Sumatra Live

We had a lovely time with the elephant flying squad at bathtime earlier .

Rimbani, the youngest elephant in the team, is proving very popular with you all, so we thought we'd share the reactions of some young humans seeing strange animals for the first time.

Something to brighten up your day. Enjoy!

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So we asked Rimbani, will she get it right?

Love the baby elephant

How beautiful they are...

Lovely to watch. Thank you!

Great way to start my day! ♡♡♡

Such beautiful animals

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We were live with Project Hope star Rimbani, her mum Lisa and the Elephant Flying Squad.

Thank you for watching! We'll be live again soon, so if you have any questions for Dr Sunarto, an ecologist working for the World Wildlife Fund, post them in the comments section of the BBC Earth  Facebook  page.

The team will do their best to get them answered.

#RealHappiness 

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Get your questions ready for the comments section of the BBC Earth   Facebook   page. The team will do their best to get them answered by Dr Sunarto, an ecologist working for the World Wildlife Fund.

#RealHappiness

What an amazing very worth while thing to do protecting this beautiful very intelligent creatures. My admiration too you.

They are both so... perfect! I think they are THE most beautiful elephants I have ever seen. The best of luck for them and their human colleagues.

Bath times can be fun and our live event tomorrow morning from 9.30am (UK time) will be extra special as it's with a very cute baby elephant!

When we're live please leave your questions in the comments section of the BBC Earth  Facebook  page and the team will do their best to get them answered.

#RealHappiness

Rosbiati is an elephant mahout (handler) with the World Wildlife Fund for Indonesia . She patrols the Sumatran jungle with the Elephant Flying Squad , trained elephants that help protect the jungle and save their wild cousins.

But working with such big animals is usually reserved for men, she is one of very few female mahouts.

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BBC

BBC

Rimbani was born into the ‘Elephant Flying Squad’ and we will be seeing her during bath time tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned from 9.30am (UK time) and get your questions ready for the comments section of the BBC Earth  Facebook  page. The team will do their best to get them answered by Dr Sunarto, an ecologist working for the World Wildlife Fund.

#RealHappiness

...But luckily the team have been able to send us back the broadcast that they recorded.

Kedaung is one of the very special Sumatran orangutan orphans being rehabilitated for release.

Delilah was born on 12 May 2016 at 4:42am.

She was the second Sumatran rhino to be born in an Indonesian sanctuary in 128 years.

Here is clip of  Dr. Made Fera, a vet at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary whose work was critical to the birth of Delilah. 

Here's a quick look at a star of tomorrow morning's much anticipated live event to whet your appetite.

Hope you're as excited as we are!

When we're live please leave your questions in the comments section of BBC Earth Facebook  and the team will do their best to get them answered.

#RealHappiness

Credit: Reynold Sumayku / Alamy Stock Photo

A recent study of African elephants sleep revealed they sleep for the shortest time of any mammal.

They rested for only two hours, mainly at night.

To put it in perspective sloths sleep for around 14 hours a day, while humans sleep for around 8 hours.

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This is Lisa - she is Rimbani's mum.

She and elephants like her have been rescued by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and are too habituated to humans to safely return to the wild.

Instead, their skills are put to good use, with handlers using the squad to traverse dense patches of forest to protect wild elephant herds from human conflict, and monitor the forest.  

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We certainly think so!

Here's a bit more about the Real Happiness Project and you can even get your very own regular 'happy moments' delivered to you via Facebook messenger .

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Fresh from the team in Sumatra is this cute image of Rimbani . She was born on the 1st June 2016 into a conservation team of elephants known as the ‘elephant flying squad’.

Rimbani will go on her first patrol with the squad , alongside her mother, this March. Who we'll be finding a bit more about later.

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With some super-sized elephants on the horizon, the team took time out to photograph this little lizard.

Although, it's not quite as big as Indonesia's most famous reptile: the Komodo dragon. This mighty reptile can reach lengths of 3m (10ft) and weigh 70kg (150lbs).

It's amazing to watch the mom and child interact and play amongst the vines.

Matt Stirn

"It's amazing to watch the mom and child interact and play amongst the vines. The babies will stay with their moms until they are seven or eight years old."  #EarthCapture  by  @mattstirn

Will Snow

Check out  these beautiful images from the Earth Capture community  revealing the beauty of the colour yellow in the natural world.

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1. The Indonesian island is the only place on Earth where orangutans, elephants, rhinos and tigers all live together.
2. It's the second biggest Indonesian island after Borneo.
3. Sumatra's forests are exceptionally rich in biodiversity.
4. But the island has had the highest rate of natural forest loss in the world - about 50% of forest has been lost over the past 22 years.
5. Clouded leopards, tapirs, sun bears, flying fox bats and proboscis monkeys are among the island's native animals.

Source: WWF

Sunarto WWF

Sunarto WWF

In need of a post-lunch slump treat? 

How about this picture of a baby Sumatran elephant.

Reynold Sumayku / Alamy Stock Photo

Elephants have incredibly long pregnancies - this little one would have been born after its mother carried it for 19-21 months. 

 It's thought this gestation period allows calves to be born with very developed brains.

The elephants that the team are visiting are Critically Endangered . However  the devotion of Dr Sunarto and people like him are helping the elephants' chances.

Dr Sunarto / WWF

Rimbani was born on 1 June 2016 and is the latest addition to the elephant flying squad .

We'll be meeting her very soon. But for now, here's a delightful picture of her from six months ago.

Credit: Dr Sunarto / WWF

The BBC Earth team is on its way to meet a flying squad with a difference.

The Tesso Nilo Elephant Flying Squad is a team of four captive elephants and their handlers - known as mahouts. 

The team patrols the borders of Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park and teaches communities and farmers about reducing conflict with elephants.

But it's not all hard work. Elephant bath time is a highlight for both human and animal members of the squad - we're hoping to bring you live images of this on Saturday night at around midnight (00:01 GMT Sunday 19 March)! Check our Facebook page for more details nearer the time.

So to ensure your endorphins are 'super charged' take a closer look at the BBC Earth Real Happiness Project . You can even get your very own regular 'happy moments' delivered to you via Facebook messenger.

Good morning!

Today our team is on the trail of giants. 

They're saying goodbye to Sumatra's orangutans and setting off to find elephants.

It'll be a gruelling trek through the muddy rainforest, but worth it to see a group of these rainforest residents enjoying their bath time.

Stay with us to meet these amazing giants. 

Nick Garbutt / naturepl.com

But a noteworthy example was this wild orangutan who got into a sawing competition with a very realistic Spy in the Wild .

In 2013 Kedaung was found living in the sack of a plantation worker. He was two years old.

The Orangutan Information Centre rescued him, nursed him back to health and enrolled him in Jungle School. He is now learning the necessary skills to be able to return to the jungle, where he belongs. 

Now five years old, he is doing well and on track to be returned to the wild.  

Find out more about Kedaung, Sumatran orangutans, and the people saving these critically endangered primates.

Best viewed with sound up or headphones on!

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That's right! For the first time a  Bornean orangutan has recently been seen eating a squirrel . Despite the new observation, the scientists do not think that meat is a normal part of the orangutans' diet and that it scavenged the squirrel opportunistically.

Sumatran orangutans have been observed preying on slow lorises on five occasions since 1999.

Let's just hope they don't decide to try eating humans while the BBC team are visiting!

The team have been up against the elements, they are in the middle of the Sumatran jungle, and technology hasn't been performing as planned.

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Our very own Sam Hume was with Fatima the 'school' supervisor. 

There were some technical difficulties with this broadcast but the team in the jungle hit the record button so we'll be releasing the footage they filmed in due course.

Claire Thompson / BBC

Dr Peter Pratje from the Frankfurt Zoological Society has spent decades conserving the rare Sumatran orangutan.

Get involved on Twitter using #realhappiness and @bbcearth.