International Orangutan Day: Protect our close relatives

CGTN

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International Orangutan Day is celebrated on August 19 every year to call public attention to this critically endangered species.

Different from monkeys, orangutans are great apes that have no tail. They are intelligent mammals. Orangutans in some areas even learn to use sticks to probe logs for honey.

Historically, the orangutans had a much larger range, which included many parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. However, their habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate due to deforestation and forest fires in recent decades. Now, they are only distributed in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

Here are some interesting facts about this shaggy red creature.

(All images via CFP, designed by CGTN's Liu Shaozhen.)

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