Great Apes Blog

Remembering Tatango, the Handsome Bonobo

2009-08-26T13:27:21Z

There was sadness on Sunday 16 August 2009 at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary when Tatango, 'the most handsome bonobo' died after a stomach hemorrhage. Tatango was well liked by the staff of the worlds first, and only, bonobo sanctuary. To celebrate the life of this outstanding ape, they posted several blogs posts at WildlifeDirect.

On Monday 16 August, Claudine announced the death of this adorable ape, saying

To my friends, and everyone who knew him, Tatango died on Sunday. It was a hemorrage in his stomach. There was nothing to be done, nothing we could have foreseen. And so he has left us.Fanny, our new vet, did everything it was possible to do. Serge Belais and Doctor Kasongo (a human doctor who loves bonobos and helps us from time to time) were there as well to provide advice, since we had never encountered this situation before.And so, 'everything was done, and yet it wasn't enough'.

Tatango was a unique ape as the next blog post at Lola ya Bonobo describes him:

Oh my god these bonobos - does it ever stop? I've been too upset to write about Tata dying, and everyone who knew him is just devastated. For those of you who never met Tata, he was the most handsome bonobos ever. He was the oldest male, and he never smiled. I can't tell you the hours I spent tryignt o get even a smirk out of him. I tickled him and poked him and played chase all over the sanctuary, and Tata was just too cool to smile.

Sometimes I think he was sad to be a bonobo because he obviously wanted to be in charge. Occassionally he would slap one of the females around, trying to be dominant, but of course the female alliance never let him get the better of him. Despite occasional skirmishes, he loved the girls. He was always busting out of his enclosure, but instead of running around the sanctuary causeing havoc, he would jump into the other enclosures to have sex with the females. And if he had a crush on someone and the keepers moved her for some reason, he would break out of his enclosure and run around until he found her.

Some pictures of Tatango

Should Great Apes Have Rights?

2009-07-30T09:43:03Z

The Year of the Gorilla ambassador, Ian Redmond, (OBE), on Sunday 26 July 2009 participated in a discussion on the BBC1's 'The Big Question'. One of the big questions on that day was whether apes, such as gorilla's and chimpanzees, should be given rights.

For Ian Redmond, who has spent "hundreds of hours in the company of apes", and even "become friends" with some of them, some basic rights should definitely be accorded these majestic creatures. In a post on the Year of the Gorilla blog at WildlifeDirect, Ian says that great apes are very similar to humans in many aspects such that they have been classed into the same biological family as humans - Hominidae.

That said, his argument for apes rights is that great apes are self conscious animals with cognitive abilities similar to a those of a human child and should therefore have similar rights. Ian laments that despite apes being biologically classed together with humans, in law, they still have the legal standing of a piece of furniture. He says:

It seems to me (and many others) quite wrong that a self-aware social mammal with cognitive abilities similar to a child has the same legal standing as a chair, i.e. a possession to be bought and sold. To me, great apes deserve respect, and the granting of basic rights in law might change atavistic attitudes and help prevent the abuses that humans inflict on them.

In most countries without wild ape populations, captive apes can be bought and sold legally, and any protection they do have in law is accorded mainly because they are endangered species or because they are animals and covered by anti-cruelty laws.

To Ian, these laws are interpreted to mean physical abuse and thus do not constitute 'rights'. For rights he proposes that we take the path charted by the Great Apes Project (GAP) which seeks the right to life, liberty and freedom from torture.

The debate over ape rights is an ethical one. Some think that giving apes rights is equating them to humans. This is evident because most people agree that there is a need for greater respect for, and better conservation of, great apes. When 'rights' are mentioned however, distinct polarities emerge among those who had previously agreed. You can however differentiate the rights that GAP proposes for great apes from those sought for humans by reading the GAP recommendations (for ape rights) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ian recommends, in the short term, a "focus on educating people about apes to increase respect for their cognitive abilities and social skills". After this, he reckons, "the logic of granting them rights might not seem such a radical idea..."

Where do you stand?

Kwita Izina: Rwanda's 5th Annual Gorilla Naming Ceremony

2009-07-13T08:36:34Z

On 20 June 2009, the most important public event in Rwanda's conservation circles was taking place in Kinigi, Musanze District (Formerly Ruhengeti) near the Volcanoes National Park - Kwita Izina. Kwita Izina is the annual gorilla naming ceremony modelled around human child-naming ceremonies practiced by the Rwandan communities. Each year, all gorilla babies born in the past 12 months are given names in the same fashion as human children.

What better way to celebrate a naming ceremony than to have children perform? It was therefore quite natural that children from rural Rwanda, particularly the children from the Art of Conservation programme, who for some years now have been learning and teaching about gorilla conservation through various art forms - including music - should be invited to be among the entertainment for this great day.

The Art of Conservation (AoC) group, consisting of 150 children had been preparing for this great calling and were ready to perform and educate like they have been doing. Come D-Day however, the entertainment programme was shortened and several community groups, including the AoC group did not perform. This did not dampen their spirits since the previous evening, in the pre-ceremony party, 'Igitaramo' they had performed their 'Mu Birunga' song and thrilled their audience. 'Mu Birunga' translates to 'In Virunga' in reference to the home of the mountain gorilla.

During the Kwita Izina, 18 new mountain gorilla babies were given names in a ceremony that was attended by Rwandan Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza, as the guest of honour. Several other important guests included renowned American zoo keeper Jack Hanna and South African musician Chris Chameleon who, apart from having the honour of naming one of the gorillas, also sang a song in his native tongue, Afrikaans.

The children from the AoC group had their fun as they enjoyed the ceremony, learning from their elders, and gaining more knowledge to share with their peers and community when they got home.

Please donate to support the Art of Conservation project.

Rwandan Children to Perform in Annual Gorilla Naming Festival

2009-06-12T11:16:20Z

Children living adjacent to the Virunga Massif in Rwanda have been invited to perform in this year's annual gorilla naming ceremony, Kwita Izina. The 150 primary school children will be performing the Mu Birunga song which refers to the home of the Mountain Gorilla, the Virunga Massif, and seeks to deepen the relationship between humans and gorillas.

The Kwita Izina ceremony has grown from a small local event to an event with global reach as it celebrates Rwanda's most treasured natural asset, the Mountain Gorilla. During the event, all baby gorillas born since the last ceremony are given names in the midst of pomp and fanfare characteristic of human name giving in this part of the world.

This year, eighteen (18) mountain gorillas will be given names during the ceremony at the Volcanoes National Park. Since it coincides with the "International Year of the Gorilla," the theme for this year is "Celebrating the Year of the Gorilla". Under this theme, they shall celebrate the efforts of all those that have contributed to the welfare of their wildlife and its conservation and give opportunity to everyone to contribute to the sustainability of conservation for Gorillas.

This will be the first time the Art of Conservation group - whose core mission is helping the people who live near the gorillas to live healthier lives so that both the human and animal populations can be healthy - will be sending a performance in this prestigious event. The AoC group want to stress the interconnectedness of the gorillas and the Rwandan people at the Kwita Izina.

The schoolchildren have been practicing hard for their performance as the date of the ceremony, 20 June 2009, draws near. We wish them the best of luck.

You can donate here to support these young children as they go out to educate the world about these rare majestic great apes.

Saving Gorilla Habitat, One Tree at a Time

2009-05-07T18:42:30Z

The children of today will be the decision makers of tomorrow. What we teach them today is what they will practice when they are responsible for their natural resources. Art for Gorillas project has been teaching conservation to the children living around the Parc National des Volcans (PNV) in Rwanda through art. Sometimes though, they get their hands dirty. In this video they are planting trees to prevent soil erosion - to the tune of Sow a Little, a song recorded specifically for Art for Gorillas by New York-based musicians KaiserCartel.

Each of the 150 students in this school planted a tree seedling around their school. "Once the students' trees mature - which won't take long in this wet, equatorial climate - their roots will act to hold the soil in place. They'll also provide habitat for birds and insects like bees, which provide honey the communities can harvest to feed their families", says Julie Grist of Art for Gorillas.

You can help the children of Rwanda learn more about their own environment and how to conserve it by donating here or at the Art for Gorillas blog.

Two Gorilla's Die of Natural Causes in Tshiaberimu

2009-02-20T14:14:44Z

On 18 February 2009, Tuver, writting in the Tshiaberimu blog at WildlifeDirect announced the death of two gorillas. The first death was of a tiny baby that had just been born while the second was of an elderly silverback who'd been around for ages.

While it is sad for the Tshiaberimu rangers and the world as a whole to lose two valuable gorillas in close succession, it is however comforting to see that they died naturally other than by being shot by bushmeat poachers.

The elderly silverback, Nzanzu, who had lived with his son, Mukokya, until his death was part of the original Kipura family, which split in 2002 allowing Nzanzu to form the Lusenge family with adult female Mwengesyali and their son. In 2007 however 2007 Mwengesyali had left Nzanzu and gone to form a new group, the Mutsunga group.

Nzanzu had been reported by rangers to have been looking quite old and frail in recent days. An outopsy is being carried out to determine the cause of death but rangers at Tshiaberimu believe that he was just old.

RIP Nzanzu.

Survey: Virunga Mountain Gorilla Population Has Increased

2009-02-09T07:01:12Z

Despite raging conflict in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) population is reported to have increased by 12.5%. This is indeed a very good piece of information after it was reported that across the border in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the population of the same species has declined.

Dr Paula Kahumbu, CEO of WildlifeDirect rejoiced at the news while blogging at the Gorilla Protection blog at WildlifeDirect.org.

We are all celebrating at WidlifeDirect with the good news that the mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park have not been affected by the conflict there. In fact the population has increased by 10 new babies between August 2007 and January 2009.

Paula quotes a press release issued by the Virunga National Park authorities which indicate that the population of the habituated mountain gorillas has increased by 12.5% over the last 16 months.

DR Congo's habituated Mountain Gorilla population in Virunga National Park increased by 12.5 percent from 72 to 81 gorillas between August 2007 and January 2009, according to the results of an 8-week census conducted by the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) released today. Based on a previous 2003 census, Park Rangers also estimate 120 non-habituated Mountain Gorillas in the 250 sq km Mikeno Sector of the park, the only area in DR Congo that is home to Mountain Gorillas, bringing the country's Mountain Gorilla population total to circa 211.

More than 50 Park Rangers conducted about 128 patrols during the census, and identified 6 gorilla families in the Mikeno gorilla sector and 3 solitary Silverbacks. The largest family was found to be the Kabirizi Family, with 33 individuals including 5 newborns. The Rugendo family - victim of the July 2007 massacre - was found to have increased from 5 to 9 members. This number includes 2 Silverbacks vying for control of the group.

The survey found no evidence of gorilla mortality, although 536 snares laid by poachers were found and removed by Park Rangers. This represents a significant increase in snaring as compared to previous findings. Although snares are laid to catch small antelope and other forest animals, gorillas, especially infants, are sometimes caught in the snares and may die of loose a limb.

The survey report is available in the official Virunga website

Day End Drama at J.A.C.K Chimp Sanctuary

2009-01-08T18:54:39Z

At J.A.C.K (Jeunes Animaux Confisques au Katanga) chimpanzee sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the end of the day is always time for a little bit of milk and bedtime for the orphaned chimpanzees. The chimps go to their night enclosures at the end of the day to get their last milk of the day and to make their overnight nests. Sometimes they patiently wait for their milk, but on 7 January 2009 it was not calm at all.

To share with us the drama that unfolded that night, the people at J.A.C.K chose to post a couple of videos on their blog at WildlifeDirect. In the first video, the chimps are getting into their enclosures and the unfolding drama as milk and sleeping time approaches.

In the second video, watch as the chimps start to feed...

And finally, see the nice nest that Kala, one of the orphans, has prepared for the night.

These chimps are in this sanctuary because they were confiscated from poachers and live animal traders. They would rather be in the wild but circumstances have forced them to be under the care of the good people at J.A.C.K. Please help J.A.C.K take care of these orphans by donating here.

Salva and Urgent Return to the Trees

2008-12-09T13:19:03Z

Gorilla grooms Urgent

After a lifetime of bondage, a chimpanzee rescued and rehabilitated by the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone finally returned to the trees. To be the chimp that nature intended her to be. Urgent - for that is her name - was in the last days of November introduced to the forest enclosure at Tacugama where she can now climb trees with her fellow chimps.

Urgent was brought to Tacugama in July 2008 after spending all of 8-10 years chained to a tree. After months of rehabilitation, she is now ready to live in the forest enclosure and enjoy the closest experience to nature that Tacugama could avail. She was welcomed by Gorilla and Jetti with a guided tour of the enclosure.

Also taking the next step in his life in the last days of November was Salva. Salva had been brought to Tacugama with a tight wire digging into the flesh of her midsection. He was in a bad state and his survival was in doubt. He eventually recovered from the nasty woulds and even withstood a couple of bouts of flu to eventually complete his quarantine. In this next step of his rehabilitation, Salva joined Baba's group and his confidence is now growing. Not much can give away the trauma that he must have undergone during his time of squalid bondage.

The people at Tacugama are doing a great job rehabilitating this intelligent species of great apes. They have with them 89 rescued chimpanzees that would rather be roaming free in the wilds of Sierra Leone but due to human cruelty have to spend years in rehabilitation before they can go back to the wild - and hopefully survive human greed.

For Tacugama's 89 chimps, your donations matter a lot. They need every dime to take care of this large contingent of destitutes. Will you help?

Mapima, a Young Rescued Chimp, Arrives at J.A.C.K

2008-12-04T17:30:03Z

Mapima, the little baby chimpanzee that was rescued by rangers in Goma arrived at J.A.C.K in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the beginning of December 2008. Hers has been a long journey but in the company of Faustin, the expert in chimp baby care, it was good.

Mapima is very young. You can tell that she is less than 1 year old because she has no canines. In fact, she is the youngest and smallest chimp J.A.C.K (Jeunes Animaux Confisques au Katanga/Young animals confiscated in Katanga) has ever had to look after. Given her traumatic experience at such a tender age, and having to adjust to a new environment all over again, she was understandably aggressive at the mamas who take care of the other chimps. Luckily Faustin was there, and she knows him.

Faustin has a way with baby chimps; they easily get attached to him. In August, Faustin accompanied Tongo to J.A.C.K. It was therefore an emotional reunion when he paid a visit to his first ever chimp baby. They just sat there and stared at each other. You could see the bond will last forever. Tongo was rescued in the Virunga National Park area.

Faustin had to leave on 4 December and now the new baby Mapima will be under the care of Josephine and one more keeper. Mapima has befriended Kimo, another baby that arrived in November and therefore she is going to be fine. Tongo and Jane, another baby rescued this year, will be leaving the quarantine ares to go into the main enclosure: to ride with the big boys. Tongo will be the smallest baby in the enclosure so there is some anxiety. Shasa, one of the grown female chimps is expected to take care of young Tongo. She's quite motherly.

Visit the J.A.C.K blog often to get regular updates as to how Mapima, Kimo, Tongo and the other 19 chimp destitute are doing. The good people at J.A.C.K want you to know that it costs an average of $150 per chimp a month to pay for food, medical assistance, staff salaries among other expenses. Please donate here to help them.

Gorila Babies Well in Goma Despite Fighting

2008-11-24T12:19:52Z

The news earlier this month that the gorilla orphans, Ndeze and Ndakasi, are doing well in Goma were received by many with a sigh of relief among readers of the Gorilla Doctors blog at WildlifeDirect. Many had been asking for weeks how the gorillas were faring following the resurgence of fighting in eastern DRC in August 2008.

The pictures of the gorilla orphans and their minders looking relaxed and smiling even as the rebel forces loyal to renegade DRC general,Laurent Nkunda advanced towards Goma, the capital of Nord Kivu Province, DRC, was indeed a sight for sore eyes and a break from the horrid pictures of dead people and the uncertainty over how gorillas in general were faring in the Virunga.

Virunga National Park is home to some 200 mountain gorillas constituting about one-third of the world population of these majestic primates. Between May and July 2007, a series of gorilla massacres were witnessed inside the park in what is thought to be the darkest time in gorilla conservation history. Ten adult gorillas were killed including one of the most habituated male silverback gorilla, Senkekwe - a 500 pound colossus - and other known gorillas.

Two infant gorillas, Ndeze and Ndakasi, were rescued by rangers and have been housed in Goma since then. Ndeze, Ndakasi and an older gorilla child, Mapendo, have become the iconic, and rather painful, reminders of one of the most brutal non-human murders of all time.

With the upsurge in fighting, their future has been in doubt and the report of their being well and healthy has given most animal lovers a reason to cheer up.

Now, news coming from Goma indicate that about 150 rangers have returned to the Mikeno Gorilla Sector inside the Virunga National Park after heavy fighting kept them away from the Sector for 14 months. This is good news although the fighting has not stopped. The understanding, according to Virunga Park Chief Emmanuel de Merode, is that the rangers are a neutral force and can therefore continue with their work of protecting gorillas and other wildlife in the Virunga without getting involved in the war.

There is currently a jittery lull in the fighting in eastern DRC following Nkunda's declared ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach the more than 250,000 internally displaced persons living in the squalid refugees camps set up around Goma. Nkunda has pulled back his forces from two fronts to facilitate this.

The fighting may indeed continue after a while as Nkunda - who says he's fighting for the freedom of all Congolese people - has vowed take Goma and continue fighting until he has "liberated" all of DRC. What will happen to the gorilla orphans when Nkunda invades Goma is anyone's guess.

Will the Fighting in Congo Affect Bonobos?

2008-11-19T17:47:33Z

As renegade Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) general, Laurent Nkunda, wages a personal war in the east of the country, somewhere in the outskirts of Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, a small group of dedicated conservationists go about their business rehabilitating orphaned bonobos (sometimes called pygmy chimpanzees). This small team is stationed at a sanctuary called Lola ya Bonobo (which means "paradise for bonobos" in Lingala, the main language of Kinshasa) and in recent days, they have been bracing themselves for an increase in the number of bonobo orphans being brought to them to take care of.

]]>Readers of the Lola ya Bonobo blog at WildlifeDirect have been asking; Is the war in the east affecting your bonobos? They don't know how the war will affect the bonobos. They don't know how many will be killed, but they have witnessed a spike in the number of orphaned bonobos arrive in the sanctuary after a war.

You see, Nkunda's forces can go for many months without getting paid; and so can government forces and the pro-government Mai Mai militia, all who are involved in the most senseless and confused fighting in recent times. To survive, they hunt in the forest. They could be killing the adult bonobos and letting the babies go.

Nobody really knows why so many orphans show up at Lola ya Bonobo during and after war, but in the words of Claudine Andre, the sanctuary's founder, it is "either because the soldiers aren't hungry enough to eat the infants or because they are so hungry they are hunting more than usual."

The team at Lola ya Bonobo are hoping that since the fighting is happening outside the region with the highest concentration of bonobos, this peaceful great ape, whose genetic makeup is closest to that of humans, will not suffer much persecution. They are however aware that this is very unlikely.

Bonobos are only found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lola ya Bonobo is the only bonobo sanctuary in the world. Please donate to help Lola ya Bonobo save these peaceful creatures

Orange for Orangutan Day is Here

2008-11-14T12:32:39Z

Today, Friday 14 2008, is Orange for Orangutan Day. It is the day that you dress up in Orange, gather your friends and do something to raise awareness and funds for orangutans, Asia's only great ape.

The Orangutan Awareness Week was the brainchild of Gary Shapiro, the Chairman of Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative. Shapiro started promoting the idea of a special week for orangutans in 1995 when he was vice-president of the Orangutan Foundation. In 2004, Gary and his wife, Inggriani, started the Orang Utan Republik and with then member of parliament and former Miss Indonesia, Angelina Sondakh, as their Ambassador, lobbied the Indonesian government to recognize the week.

In November 2005, the government declared the "Pekan Peduli Orangutan" or Orangutan Caring Week. They chose "caring" over "awareness" for the day since caring sounds better that awareness in Indonesian. Caring, in Shapiro's words, also reflects a higher level of involvement than awareness. Today, many organizations organize events to celebrate this week by sharing information and calling people to action.

The Orangutan Awareness/caring Week is now recognized by other countries outside of Asia such as US, Britain and Australia. This year, many organizations will be celebrating the orangutan week in their special way. Orangutan Foundation will have today, Friday November 14 an orange-themed day dubbed the Orange for Orangutan Day.

Other organizations will also be hosting various exciting and educational events in their areas. This is what Gary Shapiro said about others' involvement in his guest blog post on the Orangutan Foundation blog at WildlifeDirect about the origin of the Orangutan Week:

The Sumatran Orangutan Society will be holding events at Oxford University and surrounding areas. The Australian Orangutan Project has events taking place in a couple of their chapter regions: Western Australia and Queensland. Zoos such as the Greater Los Angeles Zoo are using the opportunity to increase awareness about all the apes including the chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, orangutan and gibbon (Ape Awareness Day: November 9). San Diego Zoo is holding Great Ape Awareness Days, November 13-16).

So what do you have planned to do today? Leave a comment here to let us know.

The Art of Celebrating Orangutan Awareness Week

2008-11-12T14:08:47Z

This year, the Orangutan Awareness Week is getting very exciting. In this video for instance, the Art for Gorillas team from the Art of Conservation Project joined their counterparts, the Orangutan Foundation, in celebrating this very important week for the conservation of the great apes by recording a message of goodwill. It is a great show of solidarity from people who work for the conservation of one species of great apes in the heart of Africa to those that conserve another ape species thousands of miles away in Borneo.

]]>The Art of Conservation uses various forms of visual, auditory and performance arts to educate schoolchildren living adjacent to the endangered mountain gorillas in the Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park) in the Northern Province of Rwanda.

Under the leadership of Julie Ghrist, the team of Valerie Akuredusenge, Eric Mutabazi and Vincent Rukundo (who appear in the video) traverse the entire mountain region visiting schools and engaging the schoolchildren in a very interactive learning exercises. They make learning about the protection of the rare mountain gorillas fun.

Their message to the Orangutan Foundation is one of shared passion for great apes conservation.

Go to the Art for Gorillas blog at WildlifeDirect to see what other "postcards" they have sent to the Orangutan Foundation and explore deeper to find out what their typical day is like.

Orangutan Awareness Week - 10-16 Nov 2008

2008-11-10T17:30:34Z

This week from Monday 10 November to Sunday 16 November, the Orangutan Foundation will be celebrating the Orangutan Awareness Week. This is a tradition started ten years ago to provide a forum for individuals and organizations to actively participate in spreading awareness and raising funds for the conservation of the Orangutan, Asia's only great ape.

]]>This year, the event will highlight the importance of orangutan habitat - the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra - in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is known that deforestation is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. According to Andrew Mitchell, Director of the forest conservation organization, Global Canopy Programme and a trustee of the Orangutan Foundation, "If deforestation is the front line for forests in the war on climate change then orangutans are the ambassadors being burnt at the stake."

"Emissions from deforestation are equivalent to 36 million people flying from London to New York every day and unless this is halted we will lose the fight against Global Warming. The global community has one year to agree a workable mechanism for including forest emissions in the global climate deal to be agreed next year in Copenhagen. We along with our orange cousins watch with fear and hope," adds Mitchell.

This week, the Orangutan Foundation blog at WildlifeDirect will be featuring daily blog entries about the event including guest posts by personalities such as Gary Shapiro of Orangutan Republik Education Initiative blogging about how Orangutan Awareness Week began and Ian Singleton from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme reporting about their efforts to save the Tripa Swamps in Sumatra.

This year's event will also introduce an exciting special day termed the Orange for Orangutan Day. On this day, 14 November 2008, people are encouraged to dress in orange clothes, wear orange wigs, or for those who are bold enough, dye their hair orange! You can then engage in awareness and fundraising activities around your block or residential area, at work, in school or wherever you are.

"If everyone who gets involved in this way donates £1 or $1.50, then we will be able to raise huge amounts of money to invest in conserving the orangutans and their forest home," says Cathy Smith of the Orangutan Foundation. That is a fun way to contribute to the conservation of orange cousins. So go ahead and gather your friends and "Go Orange for Orangutans".

Please visit the Orangutan Foundation Blog for more information about this event and to learn how you can participate in this exciting and noble cause. To show our support, we at WildlifeDirect will highlight this special event in our website's homepage.