Yahoo News Orangutan offers helping hand to warden wading in chest-high snake-filled water
This is the moment a huge orangutan reaches down into a snake-filled river to offer a helping hand to a warden he hopes to rescue.
The touching image appears to show the great ape leaning down to assist the man, who is chest-deep in the treacherous waters.
The photograph was taken in a conservation forest area in Borneo where orangutans are protected from hunters.
Anil Prabhakar was out trekking with his friends while on safari when he spotted the man – who works as part of the protective project – in the river. He later discovered he was clearing away snakes to guard the orangutans, until the inquisitive ape approached him.
But the amateur photographer revealed the worker refused the orangutan’s hand as wild animals can be unpredictable.
Anil, from Indonesia, said: "Someone told him there was a snake in the river. The warden went there and cleared the bushes.
"An orangutan came to the banks and was watching what he was doing. He then came closer and gave his hand.
"The warden just moved away. I asked him why later and he said: 'It's a wild animal, not one we are familiar with'.
"But they are to protect them."
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The worker pictured in the photos is part of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded in 1991.
