New Delhi: Five young orangutans found abandoned in a forest in Odisha’s Balasore district have quickly turned into a social media sensation.
Users on X and Instagram are seeing hundreds of Orangutan posts tracking every movement of the great ape babies — eating bananas, drinking milk, being spoon-fed by officials.
Videos of the animals at the Nandankanan Zoological Park show the animals lounging around, drinking milk from feeding bottles held in their tiny hands or by officials in masks. The footage has triggered several comments online, turning the event from a wildlife mystery into something resembling a Peepli Live moment.
“God gifted to Odisha,” commented one Instagram user on a post by Odishalinks. Another added, “Now they are our Odia orangutan. They will stay with us.”
To the disappointment of these users, the baby orangutans are likely to be repatriated, said forest officials.
Another Instagram user joked, asking officials to “check their passports” to confirm if the orangutans were “invaders” planning an attack.
Also read: Orangutans didn’t just land up in Odisha. They were certainly trafficked, say wildlife experts
‘Traffickers involved in the incident’
Some Instagram users looked at the videos of the orangutans and immediately questioned whether they were AI-generated.
“They don’t look like they know how to do anything other than goo goo gaa gaa. They just abandoned infants in the wild,” wrote a user.
Balasore divisional forest officer Prateek Indalkar said that when the five orangutans were found—two males and three females—the officials had to quickly bring them to a secure location as a large crowd began gathering around them.
While the orangutans have taken over TV screens and Instagram reels, with news channels doing minute-by-minute updates, these are not cute animals that have just wandered into Odisha. Several activists and wildlife experts say that animal traffickers are likely involved in the incident.
While the animals are at the Nandankanan Zoo under veterinary observation and the cameras remain on the bananas and the milk, a special task force in Odisha has begun probing into the matter.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)