The orangutan clings to two entwined tree trunks, spiraling high above a lush rainforest canopy in Indonesia’s Gunung Palung National Park. He looks upward, reaching for the figs that will make for a sweet meal.
The dizzying photo won American field biologist and wildlife photographer Tim Laman the prestigious title of Wildife Photographer of the Year, awarded this week by London’s Natural History Museum. Before taking his winning shot with a GoPro camera, Laman had seen the same orangutan climb up the tree to feast on figs, and correctly predicted that he would return again. After spending three days climbing the tree himself to rig several cameras, Laman triggered the shutter from the forest floor when he saw the orangutan started climbing.
As peaceful as the image is, it’s part of a disturbing larger series called “Entwined Lives,” which tells the heartbreaking story of endangered apes facing drought and forest fires in Borneo in 2015. Forced to flee their natural habitat, many young orangutans are caught by poachers and illegally sold as pets.
While Borneo’s wildlife relies on the richness and density of the rainforest in order to survive, the region’s monsoon climate was disrupted in 2015 by the rare El Niño Southern Oscillation effect, which caused prolonged drought and forest fires. Last year, wildfires destroyed over 21,000 square kilometers (8,110 square miles) of the orangutan’s natural habitat. Both smoke and dry spots are clearly visible in satellite images.
Man-made fires, used to clear space for palm oil plantations, are also a key factor in the destruction of the orangutans’ natural habitat. And the combination of drought exacerbated by global warming and deforestation due to global palm oil consumption means the threat to endangered Indonesian wildlife is likely to grow.
As a result of forest fires in 2015, rescue centers such as the International Animal Rescue facility in Ketapang, West Kalimantan (pictured below) reported a huge influx of orphan orangutans. Once separated from their mothers, young orangutans face slim chances of ever learning to survive in the wild on their own.
Take a look at the rest of Laman’s series:
