Orangutan Family Portrait & Saving the Forest For The Apes - Willie Smits

Orangutans in Borneo face a malicious threat: their forest homes are being fragmented for palm oil plantations, so different populations of the great apes are being separated in chunks of isolated treetops. Orangutan conservationist Willie Smits explains that they'll survive in pockets, but the isolation threatens their genetic diversity, leaving them vulnerable to disease. But Smits has been working with locals to help them protect the forest from encroachment from palm oil companies. He has also released 600 orphaned orangutans back into the forest. His research station is currently home to another 1,000 orphaned orangutans, who, with luck, will be released back into the forest.