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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Rebecca Ratcliffe

‘The toll is huge’: El Niño-driven wildfires overwhelm Indonesia’s orangutan population

Baby orangutan Abu clings to its mother while rescuers check her with a medical monitor
Abu, the eight-month-old baby of Mama Abu, who are being monitored after they were trapped by smoke from forest and land fires in a palm oil plantation area in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photograph: Muffidz Ma'sum/Yiari-Ministry of Forestry

The mother’s hands were peeling from walking on the torched ground. Her eight-month-old baby, which clung to her side, was dehydrated and thin. The pair, named Mama Abu and Abu (“ash” in Indonesian), were found in an oil palm subsidiary estate, rescuers say.

The orangutan pair were saved last month from wildfires that are devouring Indonesia’s forests and peatland, unleashing thick smog, and destroying the habitat of some of the planet’s most vulnerable species.

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