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Celebrate World Orangutan Day

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor


On this World Orangutan Day, we shout out to all the kids who left their handprints at the orangutan exhibit earlier this month as a pledge to save these endangered primates.

Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo.

The activity, part of our Asian Wildlife Conservation Day celebrations, helped the next generation realize that the fate of orangutans is in their hands.

Photo by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo.

Orangutans are struggling to survive in the wild, their populations under threat by the loss of forests in Asia. We work with the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP), a Woodland Park Zoo Partner for Wildlife, to address the conservation crisis in the field.

Wild orangutan. Photo by Tim Laman.

The main goal of GPOCP is to work with the communities surrounding Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park to foster sustainable stewardship of the area’s natural resources and build a future where orangutans and other wildlife can thrive alongside local villages. In this latest video, we are introduced to local artisans whose craft offers a sustainable income alternative to destructive forest activities:

Produced by Rizki Mulyadi for USAID IFACS

You can help too! Learn more about palm oil and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood and paper to see how your consumer choices can have a positive impact on forest habitat.

Start the quiz at www.zoo.org/orangutanquiz

Those who connect with the natural world are inspired to save it. So we invite you to find your special connection—take the orangutan personality quiz to discover which Woodland Park Zoo ape is your match!

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