Orangutan.

• Recently, four police personnel in Chennai were suspended for aiding orangutan smugglers.

About Orangutans

• Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra.
• Habitat: Orangutan means “man of the forest” in the Malay language. The most arboreal of the great apes, orangutans spend most of their time in trees.
• Characteristics: They have proportionally long arms and short legs, and have reddish-brown hair covering their bodies. Bornean and Sumatran orangutans differ a little in appearance and behavior. While both have shaggy reddish fur, Sumatran orangutans have longer facial hair.
• Threats: Human activities have caused severe declines in populations and ranges. Threats to wild orangutan populations include poaching (for bushmeat and retaliation for consuming crops), habitat destruction and deforestation (for palm oil cultivation and logging), and the illegal pet trade.
• Declining population & IUCN Status:
  • A century ago there were probably more than 230,000 orangutans in total, but
  • The Bornean orangutan is now estimated at about 104,700 based on updated geographic range categorized as Endangered and
  • The Sumatran with numbers around 7,500 is categorized as Critically Endangered.
  • Tapanuli orangutan: A third species of orangutan was announced in November, 2017. With no more than 800 individuals in existence, the Tapanuli orangutan is the most endangered of all great apes.