Orangutans in jeopardy
Orangutans, native to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, are in an increasingly desperate struggle for survival, their habitats threatened by illegal agricultural fires and local populations. The fires diminish the orangutans' habitats and often they can't escape the flames. They are further at risk because of poaching.
In this photo, a team from International Animal Rescue (IAR) Human Orangutan Conflict Rescue Unit worked to save the life of a severely malnourished mother orangutan and her baby in Borneo, in September 2015. Forced out of their forest home as a result of fires raging for several days, they ended up in a village, where frightened villagers threw things at the terrified mother before attempting to capture and tie her up. The rescue team quickly anaesthetized the mother with her baby clinging on tightly.
The organization was able relocate the pair to a safe area of a protected rainforest, where they can be monitored by a conservation team to ensure that they are recovering well from their ordeal. IAR has rescued six orangutans in just a few weeks this year.
Plight of orangutans
Orangutans, native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, are considered among the most intelligent primates and have a close relationship to humans, sharing nearly 97% of the same DNA. The primates are born with the ability to reason and think. The name orangutan literally translates as "person of the forest."
They are the only great ape species native to Asia. Out of the four -- gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans -- they are also the only ones with orange-red hair. The largest tree mammal in the world, they are uniquely adapted to a life spent in trees, with long arms for reaching branches and feet that look like hands.
Plight of orangutans
A male orangutan leaves a feeding station at Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia, June 15, 2015.
Deforestation is the primary threat to the orangutan. The United Nations predicts that orangutans will be virtually eliminated in the wild within two decades if current deforestation trends continue.
Plight of orangutans
A Thai veterinarian takes a picture of a 2-year-old orangutan during a health examination at Kao Pratubchang Conservation Centre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, August 27, 2015.
Thai vets from the Department of National Park Wildlife and Plant Conservation conducted a health check of 14 orangutans to prepare for their repatriation to Indonesia.
Most of the Sumatran and Borneo Kalimantan orangutans were confiscated from entertainment businesses in Phuket province since 2008.
Plight of orangutans
An orangutan looks on in a cage at Kao Pratubchang Conservation Centre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, November 11, 2015.
Over the past 10 years, Thailand has returned 52 orangutans to Indonesia in an effort to combat the illicit wildlife trade.
Plight of orangutans
A keeper gives a peanut to an orangutan inside a cage shortly after it arrived from Thailand at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta, November 12, 2015.
The orangutan is one of 14, smuggled into Thailand illegally, that were returned. Most of the repatriated primates were found on the resort island of Phuket six years ago.
Plight of orangutans
Orangutans walk as haze shrouds Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation camp in Nyaru Menteng, Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, October 5, 2015.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on Indonesia to take action against people setting fires that have caused choking smoke to drift across the region. The smoky haze has closed airports and caused unhealthy pollution for people and animals.
Plight of orangutans
A male orangutan kept as a pet protects himself with a sack at the owner's home in the village of Korek, in Kubu Raya, Indonesia, October 6, 2015.
Orangutans are a protected species and it is illegal to possess them in Indonesia.
Plight of orangutans
A baby orangutan lies in a plastic crate, after it was seized from a wildlife trafficking syndicate, at a police office in Pekanbaru, Riau province, Indonesia, November 9, 2015.
According to local media, police investigators arrested individuals from a wildlife trafficking syndicate who were attempting to smuggle out three orangutan babies, ranging between 6 to 12 months of age, from their forest in Aceh with the intention of selling them to buyers in Pekanbaru for 1,88 USD per orangutan.
Plight of orangutans
Local and government conservationists remove a rescued female orangutan who was found isolated in an palm oil plantation in Batang Serangan district, North Sumatra province in Indonesia, September 1, 2015.
According to the Orangutan Conservancy there are only about 40,000 left in the wild in Borneo and Sumatra, down from 60,000 a decade before.
Plight of orangutans
Visitors look at a Sumatran orangutan at the Moscow Zoo in Russia, August 22, 2015.
Plight of orangutans
Eye tracking equipment is put on a captive bred Sumatran orangutan "Tsunami" at Malaysia's National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur, December 8, 2012.
A team from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, led by neuroscientist Dr. Neil Mennie, studied the eye movements of the seven-year-old orangutan for 18 months to explain some of the mysteries of the visual brain and improve the lives of captive bred animals.
Plight of orangutans
Anyin, a sick orangutan, lies on the floor as it waits to be transported to a hospital, in Pontianak, Indonesia, June 23, 2012.
The orangutan, kept as a pet, suffered from malaria, typhoid, and ulcers.. Anyin was admitted to the orangutan rehabilitation center run by the International Animal Rescue (IAR) in Ketapang.
Plight of orangutans
The hand of an orangutan named Hang Lipo, aged 1 year and 6 months, is seen as blood samples are taken from him by staff at a blood collection center at the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation in Perak, north of Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, October 20, 2013.
The island's primate population has increased to 24 orangutans from Borneo and Sumatra. The foundation's goals include orangutan research, conservation, breeding and rehabilitation.
Plight of orangutans
Dr. Karmele Llano Sanchez from International Animal Rescue checks Monte, a 13-year-old pet orangutan, after members of the West Kalimantan Conservation and Natural Resources Board (BKSDA) seized him from a residence in Bengkayan in West Kalimantan province, Indonesia on November 19, 2010.
Plight of orangutans
Orangutans look out from a cage at Kao Pratubchang Conservation Centre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, November 11, 2015.
Plight of orangutans
Two baby orangutans are photographed at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia, October 19, 2015.
The Malaysian wildlife department in July seized two baby Sumatran orangutans, found in duffel bags, from traffickers who were attempting to sell them to buyers in Malaysia. The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be $8 billion a year worldwide, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network.
Plight of orangutans
A baby orangutan clings to a wildlife department official shortly before she puts him into a transportation pen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to make the journey back to Sumatra in Indonesia, October 19, 2015.