Judi Dench has revealed that she has adopted three orangutans, as the actress launched a campaign to protect the Bornean rainforest and its endangered species.

The disclosure came on Thursday evening during a premiere of her new documentary titled Judi Dench’s Wild Borneo Adventure in which she travels across threatened habitats off the coastline of the Malysian Borneo.

Conservationists have warned of the dwindling populations of wildlife found at the heart of the Indonesian Borneo, with 100,000 indigenous orangutans being killed or forceably relocated since 2002.

The clearing of large swathes of tropical forests to make room for the production of palm oil- a substance used in most consumer products - has been blamed for the decline in biodiversity.

Experts explained to Dame Judi how the orangutans help to prevent global warming by spreading seeds from the trees, which remove harmful carbon from the atmosphere once they have grown.