India, Sept. 8 -- In a rare and unusual wildlife sighting, five orangutans have been spotted in the Bichitrapur forest area under Bhograi block of Odisha's Baleshwar district, triggering concern among forest officials and raising questions over how the animals reached the state.

Orangutans are not native to India and are naturally found only in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia. The discovery of five of the critically endangered great apes in a rural forest in Baleshwar has therefore prompted the Odisha Forest Department's wildlife wing to launch an investigation into their origin and possible route into the state.

According to forest officials, a team from the Udayapur Forest Division spotted the animals...