It might sound offensive, but sometimes, animals are more humane than humans. An amateur photographer captured a touching encounter that proves that orangutans can be very compassionate and caring!

Anil Prabhakar was on a safari with his friends in Borneo, Indonesia, at a conservation forest run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS).

Then, he witnessed the encounter of a man and a wild orangutan. The man was wading through snake-infested waters, and the critically endangered ape offered a hand to help him get out of it!

 

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Let me help you? : Once Humanity dying in Mankind, sometime animals are guiding us back to our basics. @wwf @wildlife_conservation_official @wild_borneo @orang.hutan @oranghutancamp @borneo.nature @borneowildlifecare @bosfoundation @natgeoindonesia @natgeoimagecollection @natgeo @natgeoyourshot @canon.indonesia @balikpapan_city @balikpapan_landscapers #borneo #borneowildlife #oranghutan #saveorangutanindonesia #oranghutankalimantan #wildlifephotography #wildlifeconservation #animalsofborneo #BOSF #apes #balikpapan #wildlifephotographer #borneo #wildlife #balikpapanku #natgeo

A post shared by Anil T Prabhakar (@anil_t_prabhakar) on Jan 22, 2020 at 8:31pm PST

Prabhakar said: 

“There was a report of snakes in that area so the warden came over and he’s clearing snakes. I saw an orangutan come very close to him and just offer him his hand.”

He added that the guard found it difficult to move in the muddy water, so the ape decided to help.

“I really wasn’t able to click. I never expected something like that. I just grabbed that moment. It was really emotional.”

He posted it on Instagram, with the caption, “Let me help you?: Once Humanity dying in Mankind, sometimes animals are guiding us back to our basics.”

People simply loved it, and it has garnered over 89K likes!

The encounter lasted for 4 minutes. The guard moved away to climb out of the water, so Prabhakar wanted to know why he didn’t accept the help the ape offered.

The guard had explained that they are “completely wild, we don’t know how they’ll react.’”

Prabhakar, a geologist from Kerala in India, explained that the orangutans know the dangers these venomous snakes can pose, as “snakes are their biggest enemy.”

Apart from venomous snakes, Borneo’s orangutans are also under threat from forest fires, habitat loss, and hunting.

The population of the orangutan has been dramatically reduced in the past three generations, by over 80%, so they could go extinct in case people don’t take action and implement sustainable technologies.

According to the BOS’s website:

“As one of our closest living relatives orangutans are highly intelligent, sentient beings. They are an iconic species of Indonesia and an important umbrella species. By protecting orangutans in their natural habitat, a whole plethora of other flora and fauna are also protected. Protecting their forest habitat is as important to humans as much as it is to wildlife.”

Sources:
www.news18.com
edition.cnn.com
orangutan.or.id