The world's true kings of the jungle, orangutans, are vanishing at an alarming rate. Today, on INTERNATIONAL ORANGUTAN DAY, help save our closest ancestors.
Nearly a century ago, orangutans — long-limbed and ginger-haired — lived all across Southeast Asia. But today, they can be found in only two places on Earth: Borneo and Sumatra. And within these confines, there are only three distinct species of orangutan — Bornean, Sumatran and the newly discovered Tapanuli — each of which are highly intelligent and critically endangered.
As the world’s heaviest arboreal mammal, orangutans spend nearly 90% of their lives amongst the trees. Up in the canopies, which are cognitively mapped in their brains, orangutans forage for food, aid in forest health through seed dispersal, and build nests.
While females show some signs of complex social relationships, particularly the bonds between mother and her young, orangutans live predominately solitary lives — the most solitary of all the great apes. This makes them highly self-sufficient, with an ability to self-groom and create makeshift tools out of leaves, including napkins, umbrellas and gloves for hard-to-reach fruits.
Because they are so elusive, it is difficult to determine how many orangutans exist today. Estimates indicate there are less than 115,000, with this number dwindling by the day due to deforestation and logging, illegal wildlife trade and poaching, and forest fires. In losing orangutans, we not only alter the futures of many wildlife species, but also our own.
This INTERNATIONAL ORANGUTAN DAY, help save our planet’s last remaining orangutans — contribute with VAKOVAKO.
