Bornean Orangutan

Hello! My name is a bit long, but it’s special. I am a Bornean orangutan, and my name means ‘person of the forest.’ It’s the perfect name for me, because I was born high up in the leafy green canopy of the rainforest on an island called Borneo. When I was just a tiny baby, I clung tightly to my mother’s long, reddish-brown hair. It was so cozy and safe! For the first few years of my life, I never left her side. She taught me everything I needed to know, from which branches were strong enough to hold us to which leaves were the tastiest. As we moved through the trees together, I always felt warm and loved, watching the world from my safe spot on her back. She was the best teacher a young orangutan could ever ask for.

Every day in my forest home is an adventure. When the sun peeks through the leaves, I wake up in a cozy nest I built the night before. Then, it's time to find breakfast! My very favorite food in the whole world is a fruit called durian. It has a very strong, smelly scent, but it tastes so delicious and sweet. To find it, I have to travel through the treetops. I don't walk on the ground very much. Instead, I use my super long arms to swing from one branch to another. This special movement is called brachiation, and it feels a little like flying through the green leaves. It’s the fastest way to get around! After a long day of swinging and snacking on fruits and leaves, I get very sleepy. I never sleep in the same bed twice. Every single night, I find a sturdy fork in a tree and build a brand new, comfy nest out of branches and leaves to curl up in.

My beautiful forest home is very important to me, but it has been facing some challenges. For a while now, the rainforest where I live has been getting smaller and smaller. This makes it much harder for me and my orangutan friends to travel between the trees. Sometimes the branches don't connect anymore, and it can be difficult to find enough fruit to eat when there are fewer trees. But I have some good news! Many kind people learned about our home and wanted to help us. In 1982, they created special, protected places just for us. One of these safe places is called Tanjung Puting National Park. It’s a huge area of the forest where my family and I can live safely and find all the food we need without worrying.

My story isn’t just about swinging and eating fruit. I have a very important job to do! You see, when I eat delicious fruits, I travel to other parts of the forest. Later on, I drop the seeds onto the ground below. From those little seeds, new trees can grow, full of new leaves and new fruit. Because I help plant so many trees, some people call me a ‘gardener of the forest.’ By helping my forest home stay green and healthy, I am also helping all the other creatures that live here, like the birds, the insects, and the lizards. We Bornean orangutans are still swinging through the trees today, and we hope people will always remember to protect our amazing rainforest home.