A heartwarming photo shows an amazing moment of an orangutan giving out his hand to apparently help a man who’s standing in a river and clearing it from snakes in Borneo, Indonesia.
The great ape lives in a conservation forest area in Borneo and the photo shows him leaning over and stretching his arm to help the man who was up to his chest in the muddy river.
Unfortunately, these apes are critically endangered.
These amazing photos were taken by Anil Prabhakar, amateur photographer from Indonesia who was on a safari with a group of friends.
He spotted the encounter of the man and ape and knew he had to take photos.
Why Was the Man Submerged in the Water?
Prabhakar also revealed that the man on the photo is a worker in the conservation and he spends every workday ensuring the animals in the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation stay safe.
At the moment when the photos were taken, he was looking for snakes that may be a threat to the primates. There was a report of snakes in the area so he came over to check out the place and clear them out.
However, the worker didn’t take the orangutan’s hand as the ape is a wild animal, explained the photographer.
The photographer explained that it was hard for the worker to move in the thick and muddy water.
In a way, it looks like the orangutan is thinking ‘may I help you?’
Prabhakar said that he never expected something like that and he just grabbed the moment and it was very emotional.
Venomous Snakes: Predators of the Borneo Orangutans
These snakes are predators of the orangutans that are critically endangered because of habitat loss, hunting, and forest fires.
Orangutans are the only great ape and they’re mostly found in Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia. The remaining 10 percent are in Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, according to the BOS foundation.
The conservation forest is maintained by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation which protects critically endangered species from habitat destruction and hunters until they can go back to the wild.
After he was offered a hand by the ape, the worker moved away from him and got out of the water. This is because he later explained to the photographer that the apes are wild and he can’t know for sure how they’ll react.
The iconic photo had been liked on Instagram more than 15,000 times.
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