Five baby orangutans have been found in a forest in the Indian state of Odisha, thousands of kilometres from their natural habitat, prompting an investigation into how they got there.
Orangutans are not native to India. They are found in the wild only in Indonesia and Malaysia, and all three recognised species – Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli – are classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Odisha’s forest minister said investigators were examining whether the animals had been trafficked by an international smuggling network and abandoned near a highway.
His government had asked India’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to investigate, the minister said, adding that local police, forest officials and a special task force were involved in the inquiry.
The apes were found on Tuesday in Ranakata, a proposed reserve forest in Bhogarai block, district forest officer Pratik Prakash Indalkar said. They were spotted close to a state highway by villagers.
The animals could not have reached Odisha naturally and might have been transported there by road, Mr Indalkar said. “The area is covered mainly by casuarina trees and isn’t a dense forest,” he said. “It’s also close to a state highway.”
The police’s special task force is revisiting old orangutan smuggling cases to establish whether an organised trafficking network is involved.
“We are analysing similar cases and contacting teams that looked into them,” deputy inspector general of police KV Singh told the Indian Express.
“We are currently gathering data and carrying out local inquiries.”
Forest officials said they believed the orangutans had been in the area for only two to three days before they were spotted. A search of the surrounding forest found no other orangutans or clues as to how the animals had arrived, Mr Indalkar said.
Officials described them as infants, though some local reports suggested they were between one and two years old.
Their young age raised particular concern, wildlife expert Biswajit Mohanty said. Young orangutans typically remain with their mothers for several years while they learn to survive independently, and females usually give birth only once every eight years, making it unusual for five young animals to be found together with no adults nearby.
The animals, three males and two females, were given first aid before being taken to the Nandankanan Zoological Park in the capital Bhubaneswar, where they underwent health checks and were placed in a quarantine facility.
“Three animal keepers and a special veterinary team have been assigned to take care of them and we are also monitoring them through CCTV,” Pradeep Mirase, the zoo’s deputy director, told the Express.
“As one of them had a fever, authorities administered medication. They are stable now. Our focus is to stabilise them, following which we would conduct some tests.”
An orangutan opens a water bottle in its enclosure at Dortmund Zoo in Germany (AFP/Getty)
A special diet chart has been drawn up in consultation with the Mysore Zoo, which is home to three orangutans and has experience caring for the species.
The animals are being fed every two hours, with the youngest given mashed potatoes and apples, and the others bananas and apples, alongside milk.
Zoo officials have also provided toys and slings to the animals, who have appeared to enjoy staying together as a group.
Commercial trade in orangutans is prohibited under Cites, the global agreement governing trade in endangered wildlife, and they are also protected under Indian wildlife law. Despite this, orangutans continue to be trafficked to private collectors and for sale as exotic pets.
The native habitat of orangutans has also been under severe pressure of late.
Wildfires in Indonesian Kalimantan, on Borneo, affected about 60 per cent of Bornean orangutan habitat between June and August this year, according to an analysis by the environmental group Geopix, which recorded some 18,000 fire hotspots inside the orangutan habitat during that period.
The group said the fires were worsened by the climate crisis and a strong El Nino.
Conservationists in the region separately reported rescuing orangutans directly threatened by the fires in recent weeks, including a mother and baby moved to a rescue centre in West Kalimantan after flames spread close to their habitat.
This is not the first time young orangutans have been found in India. In 2022, two baby orangutans were discovered abandoned at a checkpoint near the border between the states of Assam and Mizoram, with officials suspecting they had been brought into the country through neighbouring Myanmar.