Images of five tiny, reddish-haired orangutans moving through a forest in Odisha quickly spread online, leaving people stunned. After all, these young apes were thousands of kilometres from their natural home.

But what were five baby orangutans doing in an Odisha forest in the first place?

Orangutans are found naturally only in Southeast Asia, primarily on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. India has no wild orangutan population.

Yet on the morning of 8 September 2026, five young orangutans were found in the Bichitrapur/Ranakotha forest area near Badapai village in Bhograi block of Balasore district, Odisha, around 40 km from the Balasore-Kolkata stretch of NH-16.

Locals were the first to spot them. The animals were seen moving through the casuarina forest at around 6 am. As word spread and a crowd began gathering, Forest Department personnel stepped in to secure them.

#Bhubaneswar: Five orangutans found during routine patrolling inside Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest near Badapai village in Baleshwar district.Forest staff shifted the animals to Udaypur Section Office for their safety, where they are under observation and receiving… pic.twitter.com/8qazZUgtfX — All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) September 9, 2026

#Bhubaneswar: Five orangutans found during routine patrolling inside Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest near Badapai village in Baleshwar district.Forest staff shifted the animals to Udaypur Section Office for their safety, where they are under observation and receiving… pic.twitter.com/8qazZUgtfX

For the officials who reached the site, this was no ordinary wildlife rescue.

The five orangutans were estimated to be around one to two years old. Odisha's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Prem Kumar Jha, gave this assessment, according to media reports.

Their presence in the forest also raised a more troubling question: how did they get there?

A rescue triggered by an extraordinary sighting

Forest personnel from the Udaipur forest section reached the site after villagers alerted........

© The Better India