By Martin Banks

A leading Belgian animal park is doing its bit to save a critically endangered species.

International Orangutan Day was recently celebrated (August 19) to raise global awareness about the status of orangutans and the urgent need to protect their natural habitats.

All three species—the Bornean, Sumatran, and Tapanuli orangutans—face a high risk of extinction due to rapid habitat loss.

Widespread deforestation for palm oil plantations, illegal logging, mining, and the illegal pet trade threaten their survival.

Orangutans mainly eat fruit and are essential for dispersing seeds across the rainforest, helping the wider ecosystem flourish. They are known as gardeners of the forest.

For every captive orangutan sold in the exotic pet market, up to 11 other orangutans are killed while trying to protect the poached ape. Many captive animals also don’t survive the journey.

But Pairi Daiza,  an animal park and botanical garden located in Brugelette, Hainaut, Belgium is playing its part in trying to save the species.

It recently held an “orangutan weekend” (15 and 16 August) where visitors got the chance to meet Pairi Daiza’s two orangutan families, take part in special activities and discover the conservation work protecting their wild relatives.

A park spokesman said, “Through encounters with the animals and their keepers and a special guided tour visitors learned more about these remarkably intelligent great apes, their way of life and the growing threats facing them in the wild.

“The weekend also highlighted the urgent work being carried out in Borneo, where the 2026 forest-fire season has begun and the forests on which orangutans depend are once again under severe pressure.”

The award-winning park is home to nine Sumatran orangutans living in two family groups in the park’s “Kingdom of Ganesha.”

Ujian, Sari, Berani and Mathaï live in the Flower Temple. Just opposite them, Kembali, Rosa, Indah, Yori and Bukit have found their home in the “House of the Artisan.”

The second family arrived at the park in November last year from Frankfurt Zoo as part of the European Ex Situ Programme coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

Their arrival enabled the five orangutans to remain together while contributing to the responsible management of a healthy European population of this critically endangered species.

In July, both orangutan families were outside at the same time for the very first time, “a wonderful milestone for us,”  Niels Vandemeulebroucke, orangutan care taker at Pairi Daiza, told this site.

“For Kembali and his family, almost everything was new: trees to climb, ropes and branches to explore, birds, toys, places to rest, and an entire world of movement around them.

“You could really see how stimulating their new environment was,” added Niels.

“Their neighbours in the Flower Temple were just as intrigued. At first, the whole family climbed high into the trees to get a better look at the newcomers. Interestingly, there were no striking vocalisations or direct interactions, and the initial curiosity quickly settled down.

“Today, both families are once again mainly focused on the relationships within their own group.”

As “ambassadors” for their species, Pairi Daiza’s orangutans help visitors understand the “extraordinary intelligence” of these great apes, he added.

They also provide a powerful connection with their wild relatives and the rapidly disappearing forests on which their survival depends.

Niels went on, “Our role is to keep challenging them.

“We continuously create new enrichments and opportunities to explore, think and interact, because orangutans are exceptionally intelligent animals. I’m looking forward to sharing those observations, and some of their individual personalities, with visitors during this special weekend.”

The 75-hectare large animal park is located on the site of the former Cistercian Cambron Abbey, and is home to over 7,000 animals.

• photo: Pairi Daiza