Mang the Wild Orangutan

Joan Van Loon

The orangutan is our closest relative, highly intelligent and in critical danger of becoming extinct in the very near future. This poignant picture book tells the story of Mang the Orangutan, taken from the great rainforests of Borneo and now kept in a zoo. A long time ago in Borneo Mang clung tightly to his mother’s back, swinging from vines, collecting ripe fruit, honey and insects, and was happy, a master of the trees. Then one day humans come and shoot Mang’s mother and capture Mang. Including information about the plight of the orangutan, this information book is a moving account of the story behind one orangutan at the zoo.