Orangutan

The Expedition Borneo team recorded the call of an orangutan for the first time ever in Imbak Canyon, but they failed to capture the elusive "man of the forest" on film. The name "orangutan" is derived from the Malay orang, meaning "person," and hutan, meaning "forest."

The Borneo species of orangutan is highly endangered, with a wild population estimated at only 50,000 in 2007. Destruction of the apes’ habitat was accelerated at the turn of the last century by logging, mining and forest fires, as well as the conversion of tropical forest to oil palm plantations. Orangutans are also a target of poachers, who kill mothers to steal babies for sale into the pet trade.