They are great apes natives to Indonesia, parts of Borneo and Sumatra – we call them The Orangutan! The name derived from Indonesian words, “orang” means man and “utan” means forest. In brief, they are indeed a man of the forest!

Orangutans in Bali Safari

Their home – which is the forest – is continue to fall on by deforestation, especially in Sumatra. Hence, let’s support the movement to let them live freely in the forest through International Orangutan Day!

The Purpose of the Day

Orang Hutan at Bali Safari Park

Every year on 19th August, International Orangutan Day is aim of raising awareness about this great apes. Their population increasingly threatened due to land clearing for oil palm plantations and illegal logging, make them loss their home. Infrequently conflicts with humans also occur so that Orangutan are injured or even killed!

Thus, the day is important to raise public awareness so that we can find a way to protect them!

One of the Smartest Mammals in the World!

Not only elephants and dolphins, there has no exception that Orangutan also one of the smartest mammals in the world. The reasonable fact is because they have DNA similarity up to 97% with human DNA! This is why orangutans are together in the family group Hominidae, in addition to gorillas, chimpanzees, and even humans.

In the wild, baby orangutans communicate with their mothers in similar ways that we do. If they are hungry, they cry; when they are hurt, they whimper; when they are happy, they smile and laugh. The similarities between humans and orangutans are so uncanny!

Orangutan The Man Of The Forest Family Holding Kids

The Baby Orangutans in Bali Safari Park

In 2019, a two-years-old baby Orangutan was intercepted at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport. This smuggling attempt involving a baby orangutan shocked the world and become a huge concerns. Bonbon – the name of baby – then being taken care at Bali Safari Park for a while. Later on, we bring Bonbon back to his natural habitat in Sumatra with the hope of releasing to the wild.

cherry-banyan-playground

Also in glories, we have succeeded in breeding babies orangutans to help increasing their population in the wild. These cute babies who was born healthy into the worlds are Cherry, George and Bruno. Now, these babies can you see at Banyan Playground as they dingle-dangle freely like innocent kids!

Are you ready to be involve in Orangutans welfare? Together with Bali Safari Park, let’s be more aware about them through International Orangutan Day!