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(CNN) - The natural world never ceases to amaze us, and this moving encounter between an orangutan and a man in Borneo has melted hearts all over the world.
The amateur photographer Anil Prabhakar captured the moment, in which one of the critically endangered apes of the Indonesian island extended his hand to help a man out of the water infested with snakes.
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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 @natgeoindonesia @bosfoundation @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 Reminiscence Photography (@anil_t_prabhakar) on Jan 22, 2020 at 8:31 pm PST
Prabhakar was on a safari with friends in a conservation forest managed by the Orangutan Survival Foundation of Borneo (BOS), when he witnessed the scene.
He told CNN: “There was a snake report in that area, so the director approached and was cleaning the snakes. I saw an orangutan approach him and simply offer his hand. ”
Prabhakar said it was difficult for the guard to move in the muddy water. It seemed as if the orangutan was telling the man "can I help you?" He said.
"I really couldn't click," he said. I never expected something like that. I simply recorded that moment. It was really emotional. ”
Poisonous snakes are predators of Borneo orangutans, which are threatened by forest fires, habitat loss and hunting.
"You could say that snakes are your biggest enemy," said Prabhakar, a geologist from Kerala in India.
The guard moved away from the monkey and came out of the water. When Prabhakar asked him why he walked away, "he said: 'They are completely wild, we don't know how they will react.'"
Prabhakar said the entire match lasted only three or four minutes. "I am so happy that this moment has happened to me," he said.
His photo of the moment exceeds 30,000 likes on Instagram.
The orangutan is the only great ape in Asia and is mainly found in Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia, and the remaining 10% is in Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, according to the BOS foundation. It is estimated that the population of Borneo orangutans has decreased by more than 80% in the last three generations.
Apes are taken to the conservation forest if they are injured, at risk from hunters or if they face the destruction of their habitats. Once they are healthy, they are returned to nature.
They also reproduce very slowly, according to BOS. A female will only give birth every six to eight years in the wild.
Orangutan