India’s Only Orangutan, Dies in Nanda Kannan Zoo | UPSC – IAS
The orangutans are three extant species of great apes native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Orangutans are currently only found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Classified in the genus Pongo, orangutans were originally considered to be one species.
Orangutans are not native to India, recently India’s only orangutan which was brought from Singapore was died in Nanda Kannan Zoo, Odisha.
Orangutans are not migratory animals and stay rooted in their area, they suffer more due to deforestation.
Orangutans, with distinctive red fur, are the largest arboreal mammal, spending most of their time in trees.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are three species of orangutans
Bornean,
Sumatran and
Tapanuli.
Identified as the third species of orangutan in November 2017 is the Tapanuli orangutan.
All three kinds of orangutans are listed as “Critically Endangered” by the United Nations-affiliated International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
