Orangutans return to areas of Sumatra

“Conservationists have established a new wild population of Sumatran orangutans in Indonesia. After nearly 200 orangutans were released into the Jantho Pine Forest Nature Reserve, the population is now reproducing naturally, with at least 10 births recorded in the reserve,” reports The Doomslayer.

Orangutans used to live throughout Sumatra, which is one of the world’s biggest islands. Sumatra is bigger than all of California. But now, orangutans are confined to a few areas of northern Sumatra, and these great apes are critically endangered.

Two species of orangutan live on Sumatra: the Sumatran orangutan (with around 14,000 left) and the Tapanuli orangutan (with fewer than 800 individuals, making them the rarest great ape in the world).

Mongabay reports:

Fifteen years ago, Jantho Pine Forest Nature Reserve in Indonesia’s western Aceh province, on the island of Sumatra, had no orangutans. Today, it is home to a growing wild population, built almost entirely from rescued and relocated animals.

Since 2011, conservationists from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program have brought nearly 200 Sumatran orangutans to Jantho after they were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade or relocated from areas where deforestation and expanding agriculture had brought them into conflict with people. The reserve’s vast, protected forests offered a rare opportunity to establish a new population in a habitat capable of supporting the species for generations.

An orangutan recently used a medicinal plant to cure his injury.

In 2022, an orangutan kissed a female tourist and copped a feel.

Stupid left-wing policies have harmed orangutans, shrinking their habitat.

Snub-nosed monkeys are making a comeback in China.