As an emerging filmmaker Melissa Lesh has joined forces with veteran National Geographic writer and photographer Tim Laman, anthropologist Cheryll Knott and explorer Robert Suro in this informative documentary. The team works in lowland rainforests of Borneo to document and understand the unique cultural behaviors of orangutans in the wild.
The work of researchers spans more than 20 years during which they recorded fascinating orangutan behavior including making pillows, fashioning umbrellas and displaying regional greetings. Long term observations of primates provide insights for human evolution. Examples are accumulating from many species that transmissible learned behavior in the form of culture has evolved in non-Human animals such as nest making in bowerbirds and “loptail feeding” in humpback whales.
Increasing forest burning due to global warming, Human induced destruction of forest especially clearing for oil palm plantations, orangutan habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate. Conservation efforts overlapping with this research may prove to be key in protecting this critically endangered species.
Gunung Palung National Park
Tuanan Orangutan Research Project
MAWAS Conservation Program
Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program
The Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program
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