Animal Rights Petitions

Friday, April 25

Getting Extinct : On the edge : Orang-utans

Orang-utans
Orang-utans are the only great apes to live outside Africa. There are thought to be fewer than 30,000 orang-utans left in the wild. The majority are spread over the three or four subspecies in Borneo. A tiny proportion live in Sumatra. The Bornean orang-utan is listed as endangered by the IUCN.The Sumatran orang-utan is the more threatened of the two species, listed as critical rather than endangered by the IUCN. This means it is 'facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.'These solitary apes require a huge amount of space to survive. The national parks that should be safe havens are reportedly being logged illegally.The forests where they live are also threatened by growing demand for palm oil, the world's best selling vegetable oil. Clearing land to grow palm plantations is lucrative. Palm oil is in numerous everyday items – one in ten items in a supermarket, including foods and cosmetics, may contain it.80% of orang-utan habitat has already been designated for timber concessions or is vulnerable to illegal logging or habitat conversion.In November 2002, researchers from Nature Conservancy discovered a new population of orang-utans in East Kalimantan, Borneo. The group numbers between 1,000 and 2,500 and the discovery has raised hopes that the species can be saved.
Source: BBC

People for Animals

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