Editor’s Note

In this edition of Current Conservation Kids we look at our relationship with Nature, and explore our place within it. In the first article, we really are talking relations. Known in Indonesian as “people of the forest”, orangutans are one of our closest relatives in the animal world, sharing 97% of their genes with humans. They are also an endangered species. Follow Dr Ricko Jaya and his team through the forests of Indonesia, and reflect on how we relate with animals in our world. In our Species Profile, learn more fascinating facts about this astonishing ape. Did you know orangutans can live to 45 years old in the wild, use tools and love honey? Finally, hear about a recent workshop at Vidya Vihar School in Odisha, India, in which the pupils expressed their own connections with nature through their artistic creativity. While some painted a house with the flowers of the forest, others built a tree house in the heart of the jungle – new meanings to living with nature. How does nature come into your life at home?

- Matthew Creasey