First evidence of wild Orang-utan using bridge to cross Borneo's
fragmented forests For the first time ever, a wild Orang-utan
has been photographed crossing a bridge. The World Land Trust
(WLT) recently received this exciting news from our project
partners, Hutan, in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The news came from
Dr Marc Ancrenaz, who also heads up the Kinabatangan Orang-utan
Conservation Project. This wild, unflanged* male was
photographed by Ajiran Osman, a member of the local community
with an interest in wildlife, as it ventured into the unknown in
search of new habitat. Mr Osman said that the red ape appeared
to be weighing up whether to cross the bridge or not, lingering
for about twenty minutes before deciding to take the plunge. "It
seemed like once he decided to cross, he did so very fast, going
over in about three minutes." Orang-utans have occasionally been
reputed to have crossed man-made bridges, but this is the first
official evidence. In 2003 Hutan and the Sabah Wildlife
Department installed a nu