A touching picture shows an orphan orangutan being fed with a baby’s bottle after it was rescued from a forest when its mother died.
The three-month-old male, named Paijo by rescuers, is the youngest ape to be taken in by the International Animal Rescue Orangutan Centre (IAR) in Ketapang, Borneo.
Rescue workers made a six hour journey to Randau Jekak in Sandai District after a villager told them that someone had handed him a baby orangutan before Christmas.
Paijo was taken back to the centre and put into a quarantine to ensure he is disease-free.
He will now be sent to “baby school” to teach him how to survive in the wild.
IAR spokeswoman Lis Key said: “When a baby orangutan is found by itself in the forest it is extremely traumatised.
“The mothers are fiercely protective and usually babies stay with the mother for six or seven years. There is no way a mother orangutan would leave its baby.
“Baby school is where he will meet other baby orangutans. They will be taken into the forests and taught how to be with other orangutans, forage for food and climb trees.
“They learn from each other all the things that their mother should have been able to teach them.
“Orangutans live in trees but some babies have been so badly treated they develop a fear of heights.
“They can also become too reliant on each other, clinging and cuddling each other for support.”
Orangutans are now classed as critically endangered in Borneo with just 1,500 left in the wild.
