How one orangutan braved new bridge to unite his split community

When a road was built through the forest where the orangutans lived in Indonesia’s Sumatra, it split the Sumatran orangutan community in two and lead to fears that inbreeding could cause health implications and eventual extinction.

Conservation groups the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) and Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, with the help of the government, built a canopy bridge in the hope the orangutan communities would use it to pass between the two forest sides.

However, the bridge remained unused for two years – that was until one orangutan braved the crossing and made it to the other side.

Helen Buckland, chief executive of SOS, told the BBC how the long anticipated and exciting crossing could vastly change things for the primates.

Video Emaan Warraich.