Free-ranging Orang Utans, Singapore Zoo

Orang Utans hanging out in the trees next to an elevated boardwalk. You can see the hotwire ringing the tree trunks to stop the orang utans from descending to the ground. One of the rare instances when the use of hotwire has benefitted the animals greatly - this is arguably the world\'s most naturalistic orang utan display.

So an arboreal ape is forced to actually be arboreal in a zoo? I love not having to see photos of orangutans constantly sitting on the ground, and the lush backdrop at the Singapore Zoo looks gorgeous.

That tree doesn't actually look that high. Good pic though.

Although it looks like a fantastic exhibit, they're not really free-ranging though, are they?

@Hix. You're quite right, its not really free-ranging (although to the average visitor it does look like the apes can go anywhere they please). Each of the 2 'free-ranging' areas has about 7 or 8 of those large trees you see in the photo, connected by vines.

@ashley. The crowns of those trees reach about 15 metres (50 feet), that's pretty high. I guess you're saying that it's not high enough to keep the orang utans from jumping down? They could jump off if they wanted to, but the orang utans at Singapore Zoo are managed quite differently from those of other zoos. The team of keepers that look after them do not take care of any other species. So the apes are very bonded to their keepers and the rest of the colony, and don't really bother trying to escape even though they could. Or they could be just content with regular meals

@Zooish: it is cool that visitors are already on a raised boardwalk when they encounter the apes, and so in reality the orangs are higher up than at probably any other zoo in the world. Wonderful to see!