My encounter with Orangutans in Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.

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Orangutans (disambiguation) are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. Their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes.

Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo (The island is divided among three countries: Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory. The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak in the north occupy about 26% of the island) and Sumatra (Indonesia ) , though fossils have been found in Java, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Vietnam and Mainland China. There are only two surviving species, both of which are endangered: the Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii). The subfamily Ponginae also includes the extinct genera Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus. The word “orangutan” comes from the Malay words “orang” (man) and “(h)utan” (forest); hence, “man of the forest”.

Another uniqueness these apes are, their genes are 86% close to human beings. Making them our close ancestors.

These pictures were taken in Lok Kawi wildlife park, Kota Kinabalu. This wildlife Park is managed by the Sabah Wildlife Department. Occupying an area of 280 acres it is one of the largest wildlife parks in Malaysia.

My visit to the zoo was sometime in the late afternoon and the sun was coming down behind the subject which gave me an opportunity to shoot them with backlighting.