205 images Created 30 Mar 2013
Bornean Orangutans
Photographer Jami Tarris fell in love with these charismatic animals back in 2008 when she met them for the first time. On her first of many trips there, she took this photograph of an infant orangutan hand being held by its mother and it was published in National Geographic magazine as a double spread. It is a powerful image showing the tender relationship between a mother orangutan and her baby. She has been back to Borneo many times since and has documented them in several stories. The Bornean orangutan is a great ape species native only to Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan and the Tapanuli orangutan (also in Sumatra), they make up the three species of great apes native to Asia. Orangutans live to be 35 - 50 years old. Borneo orangutans differ in appearance to the Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutans with a broader face, shorter beard and slightly darker in color. There are numerous threats to the future existence of all three orangutan species and these threats are all imposed by humans. Rapid deforestation and devastation of habitat due to palm oil plantations and the illegal pet trade are the greatest threats to the survival of the wild orangutans. Please visit my Wild Focus Expeditions' website to find out a way that you can help. Copy and paste this link to your browser: (https://wildfocusexpeditions.com/conservation/orangutan-foundation-international-borneo/)
