Orang Utan; Wizards of the Rain Forest

Orang utans are our closest relatives – sharing an astonishing 97% of our DNA. Intelligent, puckish and unpredictable, they have been known to steal canoes for a joyride, apply stolen lipstick and nab researcher’s notebooks and diligently work in them. This extraordinaty book about orangutans focuses primarily on their minds, and is based on the ten years of research that author and scientist Anne E. Russon has undertaken studying orangutans behavior. The only great apes found in Asia, these arboreal wizards are by nature elusive and solitary, and inhabit inccessible tropical rain forests. The tragedy is that they are now near extinction. They survive in freedom only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, where human influx is rapidly appropriating their habitat. Orangutan populations have been further devastated by the human trade in captive primates. For those orangutans who do survive captivity, there are special sanctuaries in Indonesia and Malaysia which offer rehabilitation and a return to forest life. Anne E. Russon provides a first hand look at many facets of the orangutan story. The lavishly illustrated text includes a scientific history of orangutans, a description of orangutan and their natural habitat, their astonishing behavior patterns, rehabilitation operations at Camp Leakey and Wanariset, the politics of orangutan rescue work, a look at orangutans released back into the forest, as well as what the future holds for these primates. What over 100 colour photographs taken by the author during her visits to the rain forest, this is a rare, insider’s look at the complex and unusual world of orangutans.