Secret Lives of Orangutans , now streaming on Netflix, is the latest nature documentary to feature the rich, evocative narration of David Attenborough as it observes a group of orangutans living amidst the tall trees and swampy forest floor of their increasingly endangered Sumatran habitat. Drones and other new techniques allow film crews greater access to the orangs, who live most of their lives at the top of the forest canopy, and Secret Lives follows individuals old and young, male and female, as they source meals and interact socially, even as the threat of encroaching human development threatens their protected region. Grab your stick of termites and settle in.
SECRET LIVES OF ORANGUTANS : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? The Gist: As one of their last protected strongholds, the Suaq forest of northern Sumatra is home to the highest density of wild orangutans on the planet. As their endangered status and the thin strip of the Linmbang River keeps humans out, the orangs of Suaq have developed a heightened sense of sociability, and remarkably, use toolmaking to help in their daily, neverending search for food. “The use of tools is rare among orangutans elsewhere,” David Attenborough tells us.
“But not here.” And we watch as a senior ape named Friska skillfully transforms a stick into a vessel for consuming termites. Mmm, termites.
Delicious. But there are over thirty different species of the insect in Suaq, and those churning columns of little guys are as crucial to the fores.