A baby orangutan peers over the shoulder of her human babysitter , her deep brown eyes looking directly at the camera . Her long arms and human-like hands curl around the babysitter ’ s neck , gripping on for life . This orangutan lost her mother to poachers in a brutal attack and , even though she has been born wild , without her mother she can ’ t learn how to survive .
Photo credit : Copyright of Orangutan Appeal UK ( www . orangutan-appeal . org . uk )
SURVIVAL SKILLS
Thankfully , dedicated human orangutan-carers in rehabilitation centres across Borneo are raising her and other baby orangutans like her . Over the next few years , they will teach her the ways of the forest . She will learn how to find food , climb trees and ward off snakes . For the time that the orangutan is in their care , the humans will become surrogate orangutan parents . Documenting * these orangutan-human pairings has done much to broadcast the plight of Bornean orangutans to the wider world .
The rehabilitation centres care for hundreds of orangutans of varying ages and with different stories . Many were rescued from the wild when their homes were cut down to be replaced with palm oil plantations . Some were confiscated from human homes where they were kept illegally as pets .
While some humans are destroying the orangutans ’ native homes , or hunting them for food or for sale , other humans are spending their lives protecting and caring for these great apes and fighting for the protection of their homes – Borneo ’ s tropical rainforests .
A HOME AND A SPECIES UNDER THREAT
Just 60 years ago , there were more than twice as many wild orangutans . In the past 20 years , their habitat has been reduced by more than 50 per cent . In the same period , the global human population has increased dramatically and so has human demand for fast-growing cash crops ( crops that can be sold around the world ).
* You can see the orangutans for yourself – just do an online search for Orangutan Diary , Orangutan Island , Meet the Orangutans or Orangutan Jungle School .
These days , Borneo ’ s wilderness is marginalised and threatened . The orangutans ’ habitat is being destroyed for logging , palm oil production , mining and farm expansions – as the rainforest diminishes , palm oil plantations grow significantly in size and number .
Without enough forest to roam through , wild orangutans are struggling in their own environments and finding it harder and harder to gather enough food ; they are now a critically endangered species . Without dramatic changes to the way they and their homes are treated , they could become extinct in the near future .
FUN FACT TRUMPET Through seed dispersal , orangutans help maintain the health of the forests they live in . Their diet has been found to contain over 500 different plant species !
CARING FOR OUR COUSINS
In 2008 , the Heart of Borneo Strategic Plan of Action was signed by the three countries that share the island : Brunei , Indonesia and Malaysia . The countries promised to protect large areas of Bornean rainforest , but these areas are still vulnerable due to illegal logging , the illegal wildlife trade and forest fires .
Saving the Bornean rainforests and the orangutans from extinction is also about saving the diverse species that co-exist with them , including humans who rely on rainforests for clean air , foods and medicines .