India's only orangutan died at the NandankananZoological Park in Odisha on Wednesday night following a prolonged illness.Named 'Binny', the 41-year-old female orangutan was suffering from old-agerelated ailments followed by respiratory tract infection. Reportedly, she wenttreatment for a year.
As per the zoo authorities, Binny was brought to Nandankanan from Pune's Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in November 20, 2003 at the age of 25. According to experts, orangutans can sometimes live up to 45 years in the wild and even more in the zoos.
It may be mentioned here that Orangutans are one of the world's three surviving species of great apes and are native to Indonesia and Malaysia. They are currently found only in Borneo and Sumatra. The apes have been extensively studied for their learning abilities.
