Hanging On for Dear Life
This orangutan was rescued as she clung to the last remaining tree in her forest. Bulldozers were clearing another huge swath of Indonesian rain forest for…
Orangutans Fight Back
It’s not quite Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but it seems like orangutans in the Borneo rain forest are not up for being driven…
Where Rape Is Truly ‘Legitimate’
You’ve probably heard enough about rape for this week – what with Rep. Paul Ryan’s concept of “forcible rape” and Rep. Todd Akin’s notions about “legitimate…
Chimps, Orangutans Have Human-Like Personalities
Do chimpanzees, orangutans and other nonhuman great apes have distinct personalities like us? It’s been a longstanding debate within the scientific community, and those who seek to exploit these animals have long argued that “personality” is a distinctly human attribute, not shared by any other species.
Trapped Orangutan Puts a Face on Wildlife Struggles
By Seamus McAfee An orphaned orangutan who tried to escape from a snare in the Indonesian rainforest by chewing off his own hand is recovering at…
How Orangutans Make (Comfy) Beds
An orangutan peeks out of her nest in the Sumatran forest. (All photos by Adam van Casteren) You climb high up into the trees, where the…
Two Girl Scouts Fight the Palm Oil Industry
Teenagers Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva had been studying orangutans as part of a project to earn their Girl Scout Bronze Award four years ago. The palm oil goes into numerous baked goods and other “fun” foods, and the orangutans and their kind are now threatened with extinction.
Orangutan Mother and Baby Rescued from Hunters
As a gang of local youths surrounded a 30-year-old, pregnant orangutan and her 5-year-old child, all the mother could do was try to shield the baby from the knives that were coming at them.
Shocking Conditions for Orangutans at Zoo
It doesn’t get much worse than this for an orangutan being kept at a zoo. Sean Whyte, who runs the grassroots British group Nature Alert, says that these gentle primates are kept in cages 5 feet by 5 feet where they can barely stand up or turn around.
Scouts Say Cookies Harm Orangutans
Two Girl Scouts are campaigning to get the palm oil out of Girl Scout cookies after they learned the rain forests are being torn down to make room for plantations.