Orang Utan, which means "man of the forest" in Malay, is Asia's only great ape. In Singapore, the first lady of the forest is Ah Meng. For many years, this grand doyenne of Orang Utans has been the Singapore Zoological Gardens' icon to both locals and tourists.

On 5 September 2001, a se-tenant strip of four stamps depicting the different stages of Ah Meng's life - from a young Orang Utan, finding a mate, to being a mother and later a grandmother - will be released. This set of stamps is the 11th series of the Care-for-Nature stamp issue sponsored by HSBC as part of its Care-for-Nature programme.

This stamp issue focuses on habitat conservation. Although Ah Meng has lived most of her life in captivity, she remains a strong icon for her relatives in the wild as well as other endangered wildlife. Behind these beautiful stamp illustrations are the urgent pleas for more efforts to preserve our rainforests and to stop illegal pet trade. Ah Meng has been adopted by HSBC in Singapore since 1982 under the zoo's adoption scheme.

A special collectors' sheet in the shape of an Orang Utan will also be produced for sale. This is the first time SingPost is producing an odd-shaped collectors' sheet. 50c from each collectors' sheet sold will be donated to the Care-for-Nature Trust Fund, which in turn funds a wide range of environment conservation and education projects in Singapore.

As with past issues, HSBC will be releasing both the Care-for-Nature Collector's Cover and Limited Edition Stamp Print Collection for sale. The cover is exclusively pre-cancelled with the official first day of issue date-stamp and a specially designed Care-for-Nature cachet. All proceeds from that sale of the Cover and Stamp Print will be donated to the Care-for-Nature Trust Fund.

Since 1991, ten other issues have been released, including 1991 - Garden Birds, 1992 - Crabs, 1993 - Butterflies, 1994 - Herons, 1995 - Marine Fish, 1996 - Native Trees, 1997 - Environment, 1998 - Flowers, 1999 - Amphibians and Reptiles, and 2000 - Wetland Wildlife.

The Care-for-Nature stamp series is just one of the many environmental-related projects HSBC has undertaken since launching its Care-for-Nature Programme in Singapore in 1989 to help conserve and protect our living resources and to generate awareness among the public to do likewise.

Other projects include an on-going conservation and educational programme at the Sungei Buloh Nature Park to promote greater awareness of the importance of wetland to our natural landscape, as well as the Seashore Life Programme which is jointly run with the Ministry of the Environment to provide our school children with a basic education on seashore ecology, and our responsibility in caring for them.