orangutan

These adorable faces are glimpses of what it's like behind the scenes at BOS Nyaru Menteng, the world's largest orangutan rescue and care center. 

This video shows the lovely babies enjoying a tasty snack before going to sleep and then they are placed in the "babies nest" where the caretakers help them relax. 

Sadly, these adorable babies are orphans, their mothers were murdered and this amazing organization is doing their absolute best to help teach them how to be orangutans so they can safely return to the wild. You can help these baby orangutans and adopt an orangutan today! 

This year is on the older side but it's so beautiful not to share. When Clara, the orangutan gave birth to baby Clarita, Clarita was kidnapped by a dominant male. At the Orangutan Jungle School, caretakers reintroduce Clara to her stolen baby but worry she will reject her.

But Clara was impatient and wanted to hold her baby, that much is obvious. Just looking into the eyes of this mother as she finally holds her baby... it's enough to make a grown man cry. 

We love Sandra the Orangutan. Some of you may recall that a while ago, Sandra was imprisoned at an inhumane zoo for 25 years, isolated from other orangutans. In 2014,  a court ruled Sandra to be a "non-human person," meaning she is entitled to some legal rights enjoyed by humans. 

Today, Sandra has been granted "personhood" and is living at the Center for Great Apes, an Ape sanctuary. There, she lives along 21 other rescued orangutans! 

Sandra's story is a sad one but we can't help but admire her strength and her obvious intelligence. In a viral video, from last year, you can see Sandra diligently washing her hands, after seeing her caretakers doing so. And now, another video is going viral, one showing her cleaning her enclosure and her hands, again after observing the caretakers doing the same. 

You are amazing Sandra, and we'll never stop admiring you! 

Since being found stressed, dehydrated and caged in a small village in Borneo, 5-year-old orphan Alba is learning how to pick up the pieces while trying to make new friends. Watch his fascinating story. 

In Borneo, many young orangutans are orphaned due to poaching and habitat loss. The babies who still have a chance at returning to the wild need to learn the survival skills their mothers would have taught them. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation(BOSF) rescues and rehabilitates these orangutans through a program called Forest School. Oregon Zoo primate keeper Cydney Sines and some colleagues traveled to Borneo to help train these Forest School students. Using positive reinforcement techniques, they were able to encourage the young orangutans to learn the skills they'll need to survive in the wild.

After two years shut up in a tiny dark wooden box, Kotap, a young four-year-old male orangutan in Indonesia has finally been freed and taken to the rescue center Of International Animal Rescue (IAR) for treatment and rehabilitation. When rescuers found him, Kotap had nothing but a straw and a plastic bottle with him. Watch The Video of the rescue.

He doesn't look like he has time to be bothered by the visitors at the zoo.

Got a hot date tonight?

Actor and Activist, Leonardo DiCaprio, recently posted this photo to his Instagram account with the description: "As the forest of the #Indonesian #LeuserEcosystem continues to be cleared to meet demand for Palm Oil, the critically endangered Sumatran #orangutan is being pushed to the brink of extinction. Here, at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme's Orangutan Quarantine Center, rescued orangutans are rehabilitated so they can be released back into the wild. If we don't stop this rampant destruction, the Leuser Ecosystem and the Sumatran orangutans that call it home could be lost forever. Click the link in the bio to support this important work. #Indonesia". This is clearly a cause close to his heart. If you'd like to learn more, the link he's talking about can be found here.