Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS)

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Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS)

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We work to protect orangutans, their forest and their future. In partnership with local communities to protect, connect and rewild rainforests. 🌱🦧

At SOS, our mission is to protect orangutans, their forests and their future. We work to conserve and restore rainforests in Sumatra, which are crucial for orangutans and many other species. We support local, frontline conservation partners to engage forest-edge communities in grassroots conservation. Together, we protect, connect and rewild critical orangutan habitats to enable long-term conservation of globally important rainforest landscapes. https://www.orangutans-sos.org/

31/10/2026

For many people, orangutans are familiar as charismatic symbols of rainforest conservation. But for people living alongside them, the relationship can be much more complex. Orangutans may be a source of pride and wonder, but they can also be steeped in mystery and caution.

Across Southeast Asia, orangutans have been woven into local myths, legends, and daily lives for centuries. From shapeshifting tricksters to wise guardians of ancient knowledge, local folklore reveals a complex, deeply rooted relationship between communities and the forest.

Far from being spooky stories, these legends offer a unique lens into how people perceive the natural world – showing why anthropology matters to modern conservation.

📷 The Wildlife Collective

30/10/2026

Is it too late to swing into this trend? 😅

📷 Incredible photos from Suzi Eszterhas Wildlife Photography

24/10/2026

What’s your favourite comfort food? Maybe your grandma’s cakes or your dad’s spaghetti bolognese — something that fills you with nostalgia.

It turns out, orangutans form positive food associations, too. Just like humans, when orangutans are in a good mood, the memories they form carry extra value.

For a long time, animal research has focused on stress, fear, and negative emotions. But this new study flips the script to explore how positive social signals, play, and joy shape cognition and memory in our wild cousins.

📸 The Wildlife Collective

22/10/2026

Wild, free and in a tree – exactly as they should be! 🧡

Here, a mother carefully strips away bark to access essential nutrients from the cambium layers below, while her infant enjoys the fruits of her labour nearby!

Without knowing it, this young orangutan is learning essential survival skills for life in the rainforest.

Bark is an important fallback food when fruits are scarce. To learn how to forage, the young orangutan relies entirely on their mother — learning which trees to target and the precise technique needed to strip and process the bark.

📷

17/10/2026

Here’s some positive news to start your weekend! 👏 Nearly every country has pledged to conserve 30% of the land and sea by 2030, as part of international efforts to halt and reverse the biodiversity crisis.

But the most recent figures show that only 18.5% of land worldwide is under conservation. Now, a new study led by Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology - DICE shows an incredible 26.8% of land is already under some form of conservation — if we include national reserves and community-managed lands alongside official protected areas.

This is an enormous leap forward and shows that the target is within reach! But what happens next is crucially important.

📷 Beautiful orangutan photos: The Wildlife Collective

15/10/2026

You're definitely being watched! 👀

For the first two years of a young orangutan's life, they cling to their mother. Even when they begin exploring the forest, they'll stay close by her side for around eight years.

Because raising one single baby requires such intensive care, wild orangutan mothers have the longest birth interval of any mammal. They give birth once every 7 - 9 years, and twins are very rare.

This means orangutan populations are vulnerable to forest loss, disease and extreme weather. They simply can't bounce back fast enough.

It's not too late to protect wild orangutans 🧡 if we give mothers the space and freedom to raise their babies - they'll take care of the rest.

📷 Gita Defoe

10/10/2026

For centuries, legal systems have classified non-human animals as property: objects to be owned rather than living beings with rights. Yet science shows that great apes possess self-awareness, complex communication, emotional depth, and distinct cultures.

As science advances, it raises an ethical question: should our laws evolve to grant great apes legal personhood?

09/10/2026

Now that's a line-up worth leaving the house for 👀

⭐ Stewart Lee
⭐ Marty Gleeson, 2026 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner for Best Newcomer
⭐ Chloe Petts, currently starring in Channel 4's Taskmaster
⭐ Alexandra Haddow
⭐ Elliot Steel

Plus host James Gill, the man behind Always Be Comedy. They're coming together for one night only at Leicester Square Theatre on Monday 2 November. And there's a very good reason why.

The Buffoonery is a comedy fundraiser for the Sumatran Orangutan Society, helping protect orangutans and their rainforest home in Sumatra.

Five comics. One host. A whole lot of laughs for a good cause.

🎟️ Get your tickets - https://www.leicestersquaretheatre.com/show/the-buffoonery/

30/09/2026

In its new report, the FAO warns that the window of opportunity to restore degraded forests is rapidly closing.

Over the last two decades, global initiatives promised to restore 1bn hectares of land. However, barely a fifth of that target is currently being restored.

With the UN warning that time is running out, Sumatra's rainforests need urgent, targeted restoration. We’re working with our frontline partners to turn science into action.

By supporting forest-edge communities and rewilding forest corridors, our local partners are blending ecosystem restoration with local economic resilience – building a safer, stronger future for rainforests and people alike.

Become part of our community and support frontline conservation now ➡️ orangutans-sos.org

Address

6 Lombard Street
Abingdon
OX145BJ

Website

http://www.orangutans-sos.org/

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