Fears for orangutans, dolphins as Indonesia presses on with new capital

A female Orangutan called 'Kikan' eats an eggplant during the feeding time at a rehabilitation and reintroduction site of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation in Samboja Lestari near the projected new capital Nusantara. - Reuters

SAMBOJA, Indonesia (Reuters): Just outside Indonesia's planned new capital on Borneo island, an orangutan catches a banana with one hand, thrown by a conservationist on a boat, while her other hand clings to a tree branch.

She is one of 127 orangutans that the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) is caring for in the Samboja district, East Kalimantan. They have lost their homes due to deforestation, often linked to coal mining, and palm oil and timber plantations.