Orangutan

NORTHERN SUMATRA, Indonesia. Welcome to jungle school—where orphaned orangutans are learning the basics for survival that they will need for life in the wild. At the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) in Northern Sumatra, vets and biologists are rehabilitating orangutans who have been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade...Read More

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CENTRAL TAPANULI, Indonesia — Since it was first described by scientists in 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan, one of the world’s rarest great apes, was believed to live only in the Batang Toru forest of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. But new findings reveal that the species (Pongo tapanuliensis) also inhabits a…

Spix’s macaws in the new Conservation Center at Sao Paulo’s Zoo in Sao Paulo, Brazil. — Reuters Tapanuli orangutans are the world's most endangered great ape. Fewer than 800 remain, all previously thought to be in their native Indonesia. But now an Indian zoo says it has one. An Indian…

In the run-up to International Orangutan Day on 19 August, JoJo – the first orangutan rescued back in 2009 by Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) in collaboration with the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), has, for the first time in more than 20 years, been able to…

Indonesian conservationist Rahayu Oktaviani, known for her work with Java’s silvery gibbon, received this year’s Whitley Award for achievements in grassroots conservation. The 50,000 British pound ($67,000) prize will be used to expand her foundation’s work carried out local communities near Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park in West Java province. Halimun-Salak…

The Indonesian company PT Mayawana Persada has shifted focus from clearing peatlands in western Borneo to planting acacia on previously cleared lands in defiance of a government order to restore damaged peatlands. The lands are home to the critically endangered Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), and any habitat loss pushes the…

An NGO is working with local authorities in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province to build canopy bridges for primates to safely cross roads that fragment their forest habitats. Pakpak Bharat district has seen rapid growth of new roads to improve communities’ access to schools and hospitals, with the trade-off being that…

"This is to the best of my knowledge the first published study to demonstrate an animal using a plant with known biomedical properties for the treatment of a wound" (Image credit: AFP Photo / SUAQ Foundation / Getty Images) What happened Rakus, a Sumatran orangutan, healed a wound on his…

Researchers say an orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant. It's the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild. In 2022, scientists in Indonesia observed an adult male orangutan pluck and chew up leaves…