Orphan orangutan fed with baby's bottle after being rescued from Borneo jungle
An orphaned orangutan is fed with a baby's bottle after it was rescued from a forest when its mother died just before Christmas.
Paijo, a three-month-old male, is the youngest ape to ever be taken in by the International Animal Rescue Orangutan Centre in Ketapang, Borneo.
Rescue workers made a six hour journey to Randau Jekak in Sandai District after the baby orangutan was found by a villager.
Three-month-old Paijo is the youngest ape to be taken in by the International Animal Rescue Orangutan Centre
Rescue workers made a six hour journey to Randau Jekak in Sandai District after a villager told them that someone had handed him a baby orangutan
He was taken back to the rescue centre and put into a quarantine to ensure he is disease-free. A wound on Paijo's was patched up by rescuers
Rescuers are not sure what happened to Paijo's mother but are sure she never would have abandoned her baby if she were alive.
Paijo was taken back to the centre and put into a quarantine to ensure he is disease-free.
He will now be sent to a baby orangutan 'school' to teach him how to survive in the wild. Rescuers hope he will be released when he is an adult.
IAR spokeswoman Lis Key said: 'When a baby orangutan is found by itself in the forest it is extremely traumatised.
'The mothers are fiercely protective and usually babies stay with the mother for six or seven years. There is no way a mother orangutan would leave its baby.
'Baby school is where he will meet other baby orangutans. They will be taken into the forests and taught how to be with other orangutans, forage for food and climb trees.
'They learn from each other all the things that their mother should have been able to teach them.
He will now be sent to a 'baby school' to teach him how to survive in the wild without his mother
At the 'school' Paijo will meet other orphaned baby orangutans where they will be taught how to forage for food and climb trees
Orangutans are critically endangered in Borneo and there are estimated to be just 1,500 left in the wild
'Orangutans live in trees but some babies have been so badly treated they develop a fear of heights.
'They can also become too reliant on each other, clinging and cuddling each other for support.'
Both species of orangutans are classed as endangered. The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates there are 45,000 to 69,000 Bornean orangutans and just 7,500 Sumatran orangutans left in the world.