Saving the orangutans

The friendly ape species could be extinct in as few as 25 years. Dedicated groups of conservationists are making sure that doesn't happen.

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A young orangutan saved by conservationists.
A wild orangutan, trapped in an overpopulated swath of forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, looks down from a tree on Jan. 7, 2016.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara))

Orangutans, shrouded by haze, walk in the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation camp in Nyaru Menteng, Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, on Oct. 5, 2015.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Rosa Panggabean/Antara Foto)The majority of these orangutans live in the dwindling tropical forests of the Borneo and Sumatra islands near Indonesia and Malaysia, sites that have bee)

A female orangutan gets into a cage after being rescued from a resident's home in Pasuruan, East Java, on July 10, 2012.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas))

A police investigator carries a baby orangutan, after it was seized from a wildlife trafficking syndicate, at a police station in Pekanbaru, Sumatra, on Nov. 9, 2015.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/FB Anggoro/Antara Foto))

A veterinarian takes a picture of a 2-year-old orangutan during a health examination at Kao Pratubchang Conservation Centre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, on Aug. 27, 2015. This orangutan is part of a group of 14 that will return to the wild
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha))

An orangutan walks along a rail at the Sepilok Orangutan Reserve near Sandakan, in East Malaysia, on Oct. 24, 2009. The center was started in 1964 to help rehabilitate orphaned baby orangutans rescued from logging sites, plantations, a
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Mark Baker))

A worker at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program stands near a holding cage at a rehabilitation center in Kuta Mbelin, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on July 10, 2015. The orangutans at the center were mostly rescued from palm oil pl
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara))

Michael, a young male orangutan, sits in his cage at the Tegal Alur Wild Animal Rescue Center near the main international airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 2, 2003.
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Darren Whiteside))

(Image credit: The Associated Press)

A juvenile orangutan clings to its caretaker on Jan. 10, 2011, at a center in Pasir Panjang, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Hundreds of orangutans live at the rehabilitation center where they learn the skills they need to survive before being released back into the wild. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

A worker at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program carries a tranquilized Sumatran orangutan as it's being prepared to be released into the wild at a rehabilitation center in Kuta Mbelin, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on July 10, 2015
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara))

Anak, a 31-year-old orangutan, holds her 5-day-old baby Apie in her arms in Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen, central Netherlands, July 31, 2007. The baby was born in captivity at the zoo. The zoo participates in the European Endangered Species
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Michael Kooren))

Lauren Hansen
Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.