370 images Created 30 Mar 2013
Indonesia
Indonesia is a country located in Southeast Asia between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It consists of more than seventeen thousand islands including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Komodo and more. Tectonically, Indonesia is highly unstable due to numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. However, this has resulted in highly fertile soils supporting one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity. Indonesia (and the northern Borneo part of Malaysia) is the only place in the world where one can find orangutans. There are three distinct species of these great apes native to Indonesia and they are only found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans are arboreal, spending most of their time in trees and unlike the other great apes (chimpanzees and gorillas), they are solitary. They are highly intelligent primates and are known to use sophisticated tools. Significant knowledge has been obtained through extensive studies by primatologist Birute Galdikas who, like Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, was mentored by Dr. Louis Leakey. All three species of orangutans are critically endangered. Indonesia's rich diversity is home to a myriad of wildlife including forest elephants, Sumatra tigers, proboscis monkeys, Celebes black-crested macaques, Komodo dragons, babirusa, tarsiers, cuscus and much more.
