It's World Orangutan Day today and it was the perfect opportunity for me to log our rushes from a recent film shoot in Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra, where we spent some quality time following a few of our charismatic cousins. I can't wait for the sequence to be broadcast.
I can't yet reveal too much about what we've filmed but here's one of my favourite photo's of a Sumatran orangutan with her baby, and another of a large male Bornean orangutan that I took at Semenggoh Nature Reserve last year. It's important to remember that these are different species and efforts need to be made to save both.
I'll let you know when we broadcast, which will be on BBC2 in the UK sometime in 2014.
Female Orangutan and child, Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra
The Sumatran orangutan is endemic to the island of Sumatra, Indonesia where its population has decreased by 86% over the past 100 years. The most recent estimate (Wich et al, 2008) is that less than 6624 Sumatran orangutan still survive in the wild - this is decreasing every year. The loss of forest cover is the main cause of this decline. Between 1985 and 1997 61% of the forest in Sumatra was lost due to logging, infrastructure development, internal migration, and plantation development. The Sumatran orangutan is critically endangered and is listed as one of the twenty-five most endangered primates in the world (IUCN, 2006). Find out more about what is being done to save this enchanting species visit the Sumatran Orang-utan Society
Male Orangutan at Semenggoh Nature Reserve, Sarawak, Borneo
The Bornean orangutan is endemic to the island or
Borneo and while this species is more common than the Sumatran
Orangutan, they too are becoming increasingly endangered due to habitat
destruction and the bushmeat trade. The total wild population is
estimated to be about 54,500 individuals in the wild, less than 14% of
what it was in middle of the 20th century.
I've photographed this species in many places across Sarawak and Sabah including rehabilitated individuals at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and Semenggoh Nature Reserve, as well as wild individuals at Niah National Park and Danum Valley, where there is a healthy population protected by the large conservation areas. Find out more about what is being done to save the Borneon Orangutan by visiting The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS).
I've photographed this species in many places across Sarawak and Sabah including rehabilitated individuals at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and Semenggoh Nature Reserve, as well as wild individuals at Niah National Park and Danum Valley, where there is a healthy population protected by the large conservation areas. Find out more about what is being done to save the Borneon Orangutan by visiting The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS).