Endangered orangutans are falling victim to a devastating haze crisis that has left them sick, malnourished and severely traumatized as fires rage through Indonesia's forests, reducing their habitat to a charred wasteland.
Rescuers at a centre for the great apes on Borneo island are considering an unprecedented mass evacuation of the hundreds in their care, and have deployed teams on hazardous missions to search for stricken animals in the wild.
At the Nyaru Menteng centre in Kalimantan, sixteen baby orangutans have been put into isolation, suffering infections from prolonged exposure to the thick, yellow smoke suffocating Indonesia's half of Borneo island.
A devoted carer tries to entertain the youngsters with toys and games as the infants recover from high fevers and serious coughs.
In another enclosure, several orangutans lie about listlessly, too exhausted to move after days hunting for food and water as fires relentlessly encroached on their forest homelands, forcing them to flee.
Others swing repeatedly from bar to bar, occasionally pausing to make a distinct smacking with their lips -- a sound that makes their carers anxious.
"That's called a quick kiss," said Hermansyah, a carer at the centre, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
"When they make this gesture, it means they are under tremendous stress," he told AFP.
PHOTO: Baby orangutans, who had been suffering from respiratory problems caused by thick haze, play at a nursery in the rehabilitation centre operated by the BOSF on the outskirts of Palangkaraya in central Kalimantan.
CREDIT: AFP Photo/Indrayana.