DAME Judi Dench has adopted three orangutans after embarking on a crusade to help save the rainforests of Borneo and its endangered species.
The 84-year-old actress made the revelation following her appearance in the new ITV documentary series Judi Dench's Wild Borneo Adventure.
In the show, which first airs on July 2, she explores one of the few untouched rainforests remaining in Southeast Asia, in Sabah, Malaysia, which has some of the most diverse wildlife on the planet.
During her visit to the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre, she interacts with orangutans, as well as sun bears, elephants, crocodiles and hornbills.
She announced the ape adoption while conducting a Q&A after a premiere of the documentary on Thursday.
Dame Judi discussed an encounter with one of them at an orphanage – describing how the 'tiny little orangutan' acted in a playful manner 'like a child' would, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
On her journey in the two-part series – during which she was accompanied by the man she likes to refer to as her 'chap', conservationist David Mills – she encounters wild and orphaned orangutans, which share 97 per cent of their DNA with humans.
She also gets to observe a Kubong – a gliding mammal which can fly for over 100 metres – along with more than a million bats, a dung beetle called Bob and a snake she names James Bond – no doubt a reference to her turn as M in various 007 films, including Skyfall.
At one point, she says: 'Here we are on a Wednesday morning up this incredible river. We've just found a crocodile. No Wednesday will ever be the same.
'It's not often that this happens, that you walk along a corridor and a small, three-year old orangutan walks around the corner towards you. Such a great sight,' bustle.com reported.
Borneo, the world's third largest island, contains incredibly tall tropical trees, as high as 90m – and the series sees Dame Judi climb one of them.
Orangutans are slowly disappearing from rainforests and edging closer to extinction.
The great apes are currently only found in Borneo and Sumatra and are classified as 'critically endangered'.
Most scientific data indicate that the survival of the orangutan species continues to be seriously threatened by deforestation and killing.
Between 1999 and 2015, Borneo lost more than 100,000 orangutans, according to a Current Biology study in 2018.
Young orangutans up to the age of 7 are sought after for the illegal pet trade.
And peat swamp forests that are home to high densities of orangutans are often targeted for palm oil plantations.
Those who 'adopt' endangered animals often receive a fact sheet, photos, a certificate and cuddly toy – while their financial contribution supports the vital work carried out to conserve endangered wildlife and habitats. -- Daily Mail