This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Indonesia is battling one of its most severe wildfire seasons in over a decade, as intense El Niño conditions fuel widespread drought. Some of the most severely affected areas are on the island of Borneo.
Peatlands across West, Central and South Kalimantan are smoldering underground, releasing smoke haze that threatens human health and the environment. But the damage doesn't end when the flames are extinguished or the smoke clears. Fires can transform the forests that wildlife depends on, with consequences that last for years.
Scientists studying wild orangutans in Borneo have seen this firsthand. At the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station, researchers witnessed the devastation caused by the 2015 fires. In the years that followed, they documented how the orangutans adapted to life in their altered habitat: traveling shorter distances, resting more and spending less time with others.
The researchers had an advantage. Since 2003, they had been monitoring a wild orangutan population, meticulously recording the animals' movements alongside changes in the forest's health and productivity. Their long-term records allowed them to trace the effects of the fires long after the immediate crisis had passed.
The threat from this year's fires peaked in October, when emergency workers at Tuanan spent long days and nights cutting firebreaks and pumping water onto active fires. "Nobody is following orangutans during the peak fire risk," says Maria van Noordwijk, a Max Planck research fellow who helped establish Tuanan. Van Noordwijk remembers what it was like returning to Tuanan after the 2015 fires to assess what had happened to the forest and its inhabitants.
"The haze is absolutely everywhere," she remembers of the dense smog that blanketed large parts of Southeast Asia for months. At the research site, the haze persisted for 95 days, accompanied by troubling signs. Orangutans appeared to be suffering from respiratory problems.
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