Page 69 - World of Animals - Issue #39

Saving orangutans

3 things Great apes in distress
you should
know about Orangutans face a wide range of threats in the wild, from
orangutans surviving forest fires to avoiding poachers’ snares

With arms much longer than The key threat to orangutans in both the forests to clear the way for crops. As
their legs, a male orangutan’s Borneo and Sumatra is habitat loss. The the orangutans’ home range gets smaller
arm span can reach 2.4m. rainforest home of these great apes and smaller the survivors are forced closer
is their lifeline and it is disappearing together. The rainforest that is left may
Swinging through the
trees hand over hand is a at a devastating rate. Yet over half of not be able to support the amount of
method called ‘brachiation’ orangutans are found outside protected individuals seeking refuge there, adding
further threats to the species as they
areas of forest.

– it’s efficient and helps The increasing demand for cleared land compete for resources.
maintain strength!
for growing crops and for giant enterprises Illegal hunting and poaching is another
We share 97% of our DNA like palm oil plantations is pulling down the facet to combat for orangutan survival.
with orangutans. Humans rainforests and removing the orangutans’ The apes’ slow-moving nature makes them
and orangutans are the only natural habitat forever, especially as an easy target for hunters, and although
great apes to have hairlines over half of all packaged products in they are a protected species there is a high
on our faces. supermarkets globally contain palm oil. demand for baby orangutans in the illegal
Forest fires are another issue. During pet trade. Babies are prised from their

the dry season in Southeast Asia farmers dead mothers before being transported
and plantation developers deliberately to owners who cannot give them the care

(and illegally) set fires that rage through and freedom that they need.
An orangutan being
released back into the
wild by the Orangutan
Survival Foundation and
the Bornean Orangutan
Survival Foundation

Lost habitat

These images show the scale of habitat devastation for both the Bornean and
Sumatran orangutans over the last century. The levels of deforestation are a
severe threat to these tree-dwelling great apes.
Current range
Forest lost since 1950

Borneo Sumatra

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