For the love of orangutans, International Orangutan Day on August 19th spreads awareness about the threat of their extinction. Celebrate these fantastic apes and encourage the public to take action in protecting them.
Since orangutans have 97% of the same DNA as humans, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are quite intelligent. This fact might explain why the word “orangutan” translates into English as “person of the forest.”
World Orangutan Events founded International Orangutan Day (which at one time was called World Orangutan Day) as a way to promote conservation and welfare. The organization also oversees Orangutan Caring Week, held in November of each year.
There are only approximately 50,000 to 65,000 orangutans left in the wild, with approximately 2,000 to 3,000 orangutans being killed annually. Along with this, orangutans have lost over 80% of their natural habitat over the last 20 years, with an estimated one-third of the wild population dying during the fires of 1997-98.
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