A group of baby orangutans has been found in a forest in India, thousands of kilometers from their natural habitat, raising the alarm about possible illegal smuggling. Orangutans are native only to Borneo and Sumatra, two islands in Southeast Asia, and are distinguished by their sparse reddish-orange fur and long, powerful arms. Its presence in Odisha, an eastern Indian state on the Bay of Bengal, led environmental officials in the region to open a trafficking investigation. 1:14 The world’s only known albino orangutan returns to the wild Previous video Next video Story continues below ad “We suspect that an international fraud could be involved in this,” Odisha Environment Minister Ram Singh Khuntia told the Indo Asian News Service. The five babies were discovered by forest department officials patrolling the Jaleswar range in Balasore district, The Guardian reported. Get the latest national news Get the latest Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you don’t miss any breaking news. Authorities suspect the orangutans were in the area for a few days before they were found, and they have since been quarantined at a state zoo, the UK newspaper said. The species is critically endangered, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora prohibits commercial trade in orangutans. Images of the babies have circulated online, showing park rangers feeding the babies fruit and milk as they play with each other. Balasore Divisional Forest Officer Pratik Prakash Indalkar told The Indian Express that the babies, three males and two females, were rescued earlier this week and taken for medical tests at Nandankanan Zoo. “We have rescued five baby orangutans and brought them to the forest office. Four of the five babies are healthy. Veterinary doctors are examining and treating them,” he told the outlet, adding that the babies have been put on a special diet; two of the younger ones eat mainly mashed potatoes and applesauce, while the slightly older siblings can eat solid foods. More on trends More videos Story continues below ad According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are around 104,700 (Bornean), 13,846 (Sumatra) and 800 (Tapanuli) orangutans left in the wild. In the last 100 years, the population has decreased significantly, compared to the estimated population of around 230,000 a century ago. The Tapanuli orangutan, a third species announced in 2017, is the most endangered of all the great apes. About seven percent of the population was wiped out last year in severe floods in Indonesia, according to a Reuters report in June. At least 58 Tapanuli orangutans, which are endemic to an area around North Sumatra’s Batang Toru forest, died in the floods, the report said, citing a study of the western block of the forest that is home to most of the total population of 800 primates. threatened by poaching, mining, oil palm plantations and a hydroelectric power construction project in the western block of the forest, as well as human-induced climate change. Humans and orangutans share 97 percent of their DNA; This compares to about 99 percent similarity between humans and chimpanzees, according to the National Institutes of Health. Sequencing of the orangutan genome revealed that the species evolved much more slowly than its close relatives, chimpanzees and humans, over tens of millions of years.—with Reuters files © 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.