International Orangutan Day

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies some species of great apes as endangered These include orangutans living in the equatorial forests of Borneo and Sumatra According to scientific research, these monkeys are considered the most intelligent animals on the planet A catastrophic situation has developed with orangutans included in the Red Book: due to deforestation and destruction of their natural habitat, their population is rapidly declining Previously, primates lived in southern China and various areas of Southeast Asia Trapping of animals, fires and large-scale cutting down of trees have led to the fact that monkeys of the Pongina family can only be found on two islands of the Indian Ocean Today their number is 19 thousand individuals The conservation status of the monkeys closest to humans in DNA structure means they are at high risk of extinction The holiday, established by World Orangutan Events, is intended to draw public attention to this problem August 19 is International Orangutan Day In honor of International Orangutan Day, various educational and other types of events are held, incl - symbolic adoption of primates Anyone can contact an environmental organization, choose an animal and transfer money for its maintenance Volunteers will provide the owner with reports on the adopted orangutan and the expenses that have been made to preserve the species In honor of the holiday, people post on social networks with the hashtag #InternationalOrangutanDay and make donations to charities involved in protecting wildlife Unlike chimpanzees, orangutans are not aggressive and are easily tamed and trainable Their intelligence, friendliness and ability to learn amazes people The orangutan is a unique and still not fully studied genus of monkeys Representatives of primates of this species can be seen on TV and met in the circus arena, where they demonstrate their extraordinary mental abilities Many films and TV series have been made about the life of orangutans Documentaries such as Born Free (2011) chronicle the challenges of survival for baby primates in the rainforests of Borneo The Kaliningrad Zoo has a life-size sculpture of an orangutan made of red porphyry The monument by animal painter Arthur Steiner was created in 1930 It is a decoration of the city, just like orangutans are a decoration of the tropical jungle Poaching and deforestation to clear areas for oil palm plantations threaten the death of the primate population Monkeys spend almost their entire lives in trees, so the destruction of their natural habitat promises them inevitable death International Orangutan Day is called upon to stop the impending catastrophe