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​Netflix Viewers In Tears After Heartbreaking Orangutan Scene In New David Attenborough Documentary

​Netflix Viewers In Tears After Heartbreaking Orangutan Scene In New David Attenborough Documentary

"This is what we've been turning this dizzying diversity into: a monoculture of oil palm, a habitat that is dead in comparison"

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Many viewers have been feeling more than just a bit emotional after tuning in to A Life On Our Planet, David Attenborough's new feature-length documentary on Netflix - especially when it came to a heartbreaking scene involving orangutans.

In the film, Attenborough explains that deforestation has left much of the world's rainforests reduced to 'regimented rows of oil palms', which has an impact not only on an area's tree diversity, but also many other species.

Attenborough says in the voiceover: "Many of the millions of species in the forests exist in small numbers. Every one has a critical role to play.

"Orangutan mothers have to spend 10 years with their young, teaching them which fruits are worth eating. Without this training, they would not complete their role in dispersing seeds. The future generations of many tree species would be at risk.

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"And tree diversity is the key to a rainforest. In a single small patch of tropical rainforest there could be 700 different species of tree - as many as there are in the whole of north America.

"And yet this is what we've been turning this dizzying diversity into: a monoculture of oil palm, a habitat that is dead in comparison."

He continues: "There is a double incentive to cut down forests: people benefit from the timber, and then benefit again from farming the land that's left behind.

"Which is why we've cut down three trillion trees across the world - half of the world's rainforests have already been cleared.

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"What we see happening today is just the latest chapter in a global process spanning millennia.

"The deforestation of Borneo has reduced the population of orangutan by two thirds since I first saw one just over 60 years ago."

Video footage shows orangutans clinging on desperately to the remnants of their home, as Attenborough warns: "We can't cut down rainforests forever, and anything that we can't do forever is by definition unsustainable.

"If we do things that are unsustainable, the damage accumulates - ultimately to a point where the whole system collapses."

Viewers have found the sequence hugely poignant, with many taking to Twitter to say it even made them cry.

Netflix

One person tweeted: "Just got to the part where the orangutan is climbing up the last remaining tree on #DavidAttenborough #ALifeOnOurPlanet and man... that made me CRY."

Someone else wrote: "Watching #DavidAttenborough #ALifeOnOurPlanet and couldn't help but cry watching that beautiful orangutan walking round looking for somewhere to call home. Breaks my heart."

A third commented: "Every time I see that clip of the orangutan clinging onto the last tree in a rainforest that's just been destroyed my heart hurt."

Watch David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet on Netflix now.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, david attenborough, Animals