Conservationists urge authorities to take action as report finds great ape population of Kalimantan region gravely endangered.
Conservationists have called on the Indonesian authorities to take urgent action to save the orangutan after a report warned that the endangered great apes were being hunted at a rate that could bring them to the brink of extinction.
Erik Meijaard, who led a team carrying out the first attempt to assess the scale of the problem in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, said the results showed that between 750 and 1,800 orangutans were killed as a result of hunting and deforestation in the 12 months to April 2008.
The numbers, which were higher than expected, indicated that most orangutan populations in Kalimantan could be in serious danger "within the foreseeable future", said Meijaard, of the Jakarta-based People and Nature Consulting International. "At that rate… you're talking about 10-15 years until pretty much all orangutans [in Kalimantan] are gone."
Home to 90% of the world's orangutans, Indonesia also has one of the highest rates of deforestation – a phenomenon driven by a combination of illegal logging, palm oil plantations and gold mining. Loss of habitat is the main reason behind the steep decline in both the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and its critically endangered Sumatran counterpart (Pongo abelii). The Sumatran orangutan population is believed to be less than 7,000 and has featured on the World's 25 Most Endangered Primates list since its inception in 2000. In Borneo, an estimated 54,000 orangutans survive, half the number of 25 years ago.
Habitat loss is compounded by hunting, which, though anecdotally well known as a cause of orangutan decline, has been a neglected issue. While much of the killing documented by Meijaard and his researchers appears to have been motivated by opportunism, with villagers hunting for food, a significant proportion could be related to habitat loss. "There is conflict-related hunting where you've got plantations going in. You've got people expanding their fields and gardens and infringing on orangutan habitat, so they are being squeezed into smaller and smaller pockets of forest and automatically come into contact with people more frequently," Meijaard said.
"If you find an orangutan sitting in your garden or eating the fruit from your fruit tree or pulling up your oil palm, the logical reaction is either to scare it off or to kill it. That's what people do."
Read more here ...
Showing posts with label orang-utans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orang-utans. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Alleged masterminds of orangutan killings arrested
EAST Kalimantan Police have arrested and named two people suspects, PCH, a Malaysian, and his Indonesian cohort, W, in connection with the recent death of several orangutans in plantation areas in Kalimantan, The Jakarta Post reported yesterday.
According to earlier reports, PCH acted as the mastermind for the killing. He hired two locals to carry out the killings, East Kalimantan Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wisnu Sutirta said Thursday as quoted by tempo.co.
Wisnu said that PCH, a manager of PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo, believed the orangutans were a pest that could ruin his company's assets in the local forests, and had thus made efforts to exterminate them.
Wisnu said police were seeking information on where the money came from to pay for the orangutan killings.
Meanwhile, Antara news agency reported yesterday that the two were suspected of involvement in the orangutan (pongo pygmaeus morio) killings at Puan Cepak village, Muara Kaman sub-district, Kutai Kartanegara (Kukar) District, East Kalimantan province.
"Based on the investigations by the Kukar and East Kalimantan Police offices, we name and detain W bin W, 29, and PCH, 46, a senior manager," Inspector General Saud Usman Nasution, spokesman for the Indonesian National Police, said as quoted by Antara as saying.
Antara said that W was suspected to be the person who had recruited the main suspect, caught and shot orangutans.
He had also allegedly provided the facilities.
PCH was the person who had suggested and instructed the establishment of a team to hunt pests (including orangutans and monkeys) in the plantation area of PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo, a Malaysian oil palm plantation company operating in Kalimantan.
"We are still waiting for further investigations to look for other possible suspects. For sure, whoever was involved in this case will be thoroughly investigated, without any discrimination, including the company's employees or others," Saud said.
The police have so far grilled 25 witnesses in the orangutan and monkey killing case.
Police had earlier named two suspects - M alias G and M - in the case.
The two suspects are pest eradication workers of PT KAM.
They said they killed the animals based on instructions from PCH and A, another PT KAM manager, two years ago. They were paid 200,000 rupiah (S$30) per one monkey and 1 million rupiah per orangutan.
If found guilty, they are liable to a five-year jail sentence each and a fine of 100 million rupiah in accordance with Law No 5/1990 on Natural Resource Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20111126-312817.html
According to earlier reports, PCH acted as the mastermind for the killing. He hired two locals to carry out the killings, East Kalimantan Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wisnu Sutirta said Thursday as quoted by tempo.co.
Wisnu said that PCH, a manager of PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo, believed the orangutans were a pest that could ruin his company's assets in the local forests, and had thus made efforts to exterminate them.
Wisnu said police were seeking information on where the money came from to pay for the orangutan killings.
Meanwhile, Antara news agency reported yesterday that the two were suspected of involvement in the orangutan (pongo pygmaeus morio) killings at Puan Cepak village, Muara Kaman sub-district, Kutai Kartanegara (Kukar) District, East Kalimantan province.
"Based on the investigations by the Kukar and East Kalimantan Police offices, we name and detain W bin W, 29, and PCH, 46, a senior manager," Inspector General Saud Usman Nasution, spokesman for the Indonesian National Police, said as quoted by Antara as saying.
Antara said that W was suspected to be the person who had recruited the main suspect, caught and shot orangutans.
He had also allegedly provided the facilities.
PCH was the person who had suggested and instructed the establishment of a team to hunt pests (including orangutans and monkeys) in the plantation area of PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo, a Malaysian oil palm plantation company operating in Kalimantan.
"We are still waiting for further investigations to look for other possible suspects. For sure, whoever was involved in this case will be thoroughly investigated, without any discrimination, including the company's employees or others," Saud said.
The police have so far grilled 25 witnesses in the orangutan and monkey killing case.
Police had earlier named two suspects - M alias G and M - in the case.
The two suspects are pest eradication workers of PT KAM.
They said they killed the animals based on instructions from PCH and A, another PT KAM manager, two years ago. They were paid 200,000 rupiah (S$30) per one monkey and 1 million rupiah per orangutan.
If found guilty, they are liable to a five-year jail sentence each and a fine of 100 million rupiah in accordance with Law No 5/1990 on Natural Resource Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20111126-312817.html
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Devastating impact of palm oil on orang-utans
Land fragmentation causes population to plummet
November 2011: 300 orang-utans have been lost in just seven years in Lower Kinabatangan on Sabah's east coast. Forest isolation and loss of habitat are to blame according to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of HUTAN - Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme (KOCP).
‘What we are seeing with our latest surveys within the Lower Kinabatangan is a clear population decline of the orang-utans,' said Dr Ancrenaz who hoped such issues would add urgency to events such as the Roundtable for Sustainable Oil Palm (RSPO) being held this month in Kota Kinabalu.
Isolated islands of forestThe biggest threat to orang-utan and other wildlife populations in Sabah is fragmentation. What this means is that agriculture development - primarily oil palm -has created small islands of forest which are isolated and completely surrounded by human-made landscape.
‘Because it is difficult for wildlife to move from one forest patch to the next, this situation leads to inbreeding and eventual population decline, which is what we are witnessing today in the Lower Kinabatangan,' said Dr Ancrenaz.
He points out that this issue is inherently related to the oil palm industry and he believes it should take action to rectify the situation. ‘We can still improve the situation for the Lower Kinabatangan's orang-utan and other wildlife by actually replanting and planning for actual wildlife corridors or patches of forest to support wildlife movement between protected or forested areas,' Dr Ancrenaz added.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orangutan-sabah.html
November 2011: 300 orang-utans have been lost in just seven years in Lower Kinabatangan on Sabah's east coast. Forest isolation and loss of habitat are to blame according to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of HUTAN - Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme (KOCP).
‘What we are seeing with our latest surveys within the Lower Kinabatangan is a clear population decline of the orang-utans,' said Dr Ancrenaz who hoped such issues would add urgency to events such as the Roundtable for Sustainable Oil Palm (RSPO) being held this month in Kota Kinabalu.
Isolated islands of forestThe biggest threat to orang-utan and other wildlife populations in Sabah is fragmentation. What this means is that agriculture development - primarily oil palm -has created small islands of forest which are isolated and completely surrounded by human-made landscape.
‘Because it is difficult for wildlife to move from one forest patch to the next, this situation leads to inbreeding and eventual population decline, which is what we are witnessing today in the Lower Kinabatangan,' said Dr Ancrenaz.
He points out that this issue is inherently related to the oil palm industry and he believes it should take action to rectify the situation. ‘We can still improve the situation for the Lower Kinabatangan's orang-utan and other wildlife by actually replanting and planning for actual wildlife corridors or patches of forest to support wildlife movement between protected or forested areas,' Dr Ancrenaz added.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orangutan-sabah.html
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Happy orangutans live longer in zoos
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13925983
Happier orangutans are more likely to live for longer, according to a study. A team of researchers in the UK and US devised a method to measure the happiness, or subjective well-being, of captive orangutans. In a follow-up study seven years later, the scientists found that happier primates were much more likely still to be alive. The findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Read on...
Happier orangutans are more likely to live for longer, according to a study. A team of researchers in the UK and US devised a method to measure the happiness, or subjective well-being, of captive orangutans. In a follow-up study seven years later, the scientists found that happier primates were much more likely still to be alive. The findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Read on...
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Baby orangutan cruises to new home
A baby orangutan abandoned by his mum has cruised to a new home in comfort - in his own first class ferry cabin.
Silvestre - who celebrates his first birthday on New Year's Eve - dined on citrus fruit and milk as he made the 24-hour crossing to Portsmouth, Hants.
Brittany Ferries gave the nappy-wearing primate a private four-bed suite for the 690-mile trip aboard the Cap Finistere from Santander, Spain.
Silvestre spent most of his time exploring his surroundings and swinging from ladders and bunkbeds in his £150-a-night room. But he was also allowed to visit Captain Patrick Thomas on the bridge.
Keepers at Santillana Zoo, Spain, raised the Sumatran orangutan by hand for 11 months after his mum simply put him down and walked away. The keepers also accompanied him on his trip.
He is now starting a new life at Europe's only crèche for orphaned orangutans at Monkey World in Wareham, Dorset.
Brittany Ferries' Chris Jones said: "Silvestre spent most of the time swinging from the ladders and bunks. He's a lovely little orangutan - he just melts your heart.
"He had plenty of time to meet people who were keen to see him. We get a lot of unusual requests but it's the first time I know we've carried an orangutan."
Dr Alison Cronin, from Monkey World, said their objective was to help him grow into a "well-adjusted" adult ape alongside his other adopted brothers and sisters.
She said: "Silvestre travelled like a VIP and had a fantastic journey. He is a fluffy bundle of joy and has settled in well."
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Baby_orangutan_cruises_to_new_home
Silvestre - who celebrates his first birthday on New Year's Eve - dined on citrus fruit and milk as he made the 24-hour crossing to Portsmouth, Hants.
Brittany Ferries gave the nappy-wearing primate a private four-bed suite for the 690-mile trip aboard the Cap Finistere from Santander, Spain.
Silvestre spent most of his time exploring his surroundings and swinging from ladders and bunkbeds in his £150-a-night room. But he was also allowed to visit Captain Patrick Thomas on the bridge.
Keepers at Santillana Zoo, Spain, raised the Sumatran orangutan by hand for 11 months after his mum simply put him down and walked away. The keepers also accompanied him on his trip.
He is now starting a new life at Europe's only crèche for orphaned orangutans at Monkey World in Wareham, Dorset.
Brittany Ferries' Chris Jones said: "Silvestre spent most of the time swinging from the ladders and bunks. He's a lovely little orangutan - he just melts your heart.
"He had plenty of time to meet people who were keen to see him. We get a lot of unusual requests but it's the first time I know we've carried an orangutan."
Dr Alison Cronin, from Monkey World, said their objective was to help him grow into a "well-adjusted" adult ape alongside his other adopted brothers and sisters.
She said: "Silvestre travelled like a VIP and had a fantastic journey. He is a fluffy bundle of joy and has settled in well."
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Baby_orangutan_cruises_to_new_home
Baby orangutan cruises to new home
A baby orangutan abandoned by his mum has cruised to a new home in comfort - in his own first class ferry cabin.
Silvestre - who celebrates his first birthday on New Year's Eve - dined on citrus fruit and milk as he made the 24-hour crossing to Portsmouth, Hants.
Brittany Ferries gave the nappy-wearing primate a private four-bed suite for the 690-mile trip aboard the Cap Finistere from Santander, Spain.
Silvestre spent most of his time exploring his surroundings and swinging from ladders and bunkbeds in his £150-a-night room. But he was also allowed to visit Captain Patrick Thomas on the bridge.
Keepers at Santillana Zoo, Spain, raised the Sumatran orangutan by hand for 11 months after his mum simply put him down and walked away. The keepers also accompanied him on his trip.
He is now starting a new life at Europe's only crèche for orphaned orangutans at Monkey World in Wareham, Dorset.
Brittany Ferries' Chris Jones said: "Silvestre spent most of the time swinging from the ladders and bunks. He's a lovely little orangutan - he just melts your heart.
"He had plenty of time to meet people who were keen to see him. We get a lot of unusual requests but it's the first time I know we've carried an orangutan."
Dr Alison Cronin, from Monkey World, said their objective was to help him grow into a "well-adjusted" adult ape alongside his other adopted brothers and sisters.
She said: "Silvestre travelled like a VIP and had a fantastic journey. He is a fluffy bundle of joy and has settled in well."
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Baby_orangutan_cruises_to_new_home
Silvestre - who celebrates his first birthday on New Year's Eve - dined on citrus fruit and milk as he made the 24-hour crossing to Portsmouth, Hants.
Brittany Ferries gave the nappy-wearing primate a private four-bed suite for the 690-mile trip aboard the Cap Finistere from Santander, Spain.
Silvestre spent most of his time exploring his surroundings and swinging from ladders and bunkbeds in his £150-a-night room. But he was also allowed to visit Captain Patrick Thomas on the bridge.
Keepers at Santillana Zoo, Spain, raised the Sumatran orangutan by hand for 11 months after his mum simply put him down and walked away. The keepers also accompanied him on his trip.
He is now starting a new life at Europe's only crèche for orphaned orangutans at Monkey World in Wareham, Dorset.
Brittany Ferries' Chris Jones said: "Silvestre spent most of the time swinging from the ladders and bunks. He's a lovely little orangutan - he just melts your heart.
"He had plenty of time to meet people who were keen to see him. We get a lot of unusual requests but it's the first time I know we've carried an orangutan."
Dr Alison Cronin, from Monkey World, said their objective was to help him grow into a "well-adjusted" adult ape alongside his other adopted brothers and sisters.
She said: "Silvestre travelled like a VIP and had a fantastic journey. He is a fluffy bundle of joy and has settled in well."
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Baby_orangutan_cruises_to_new_home
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
So, how do you make a gorilla stew?
YOU keep him waiting for three hours. And if you told that joke in Africa, you'd get more hearty laughs than in Asia. Naturalists have discovered orang-utans and other Asian apes laugh less than their African cousins, such as gorillas and chimps. And they also found that, while humans first learned to laugh from their ape ancestors millions of years ago, we have since learned to use laughter to sneer, mock and ridicule.
'Our observations showed strong differences in the use of laughter between the Asian great apes (orang-utans) and the African great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos),' said Dr Marina Davila Ross, of the UK's University of Portsmouth.
'Asian apes and humans laugh clearly more often.'
Evolution has enabled humans to use laughter to mock others while apes simply laugh to enjoy themselves and influence others, she concluded.
'But something happened in the last 5 million years which means humans use laughter for a much wider range of situations.'
Dr Ross, who worked with the University of Veterinary Medicine in Germany, also showed sounds other than laughter can evolve in the context of tickling. Mammals, including flying foxes, make sounds when they are tickled but they are not necessarily laughing.
Metro Ireland, 12 January 2010, p5.
'Our observations showed strong differences in the use of laughter between the Asian great apes (orang-utans) and the African great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos),' said Dr Marina Davila Ross, of the UK's University of Portsmouth.
'Asian apes and humans laugh clearly more often.'
Evolution has enabled humans to use laughter to mock others while apes simply laugh to enjoy themselves and influence others, she concluded.
'But something happened in the last 5 million years which means humans use laughter for a much wider range of situations.'
Dr Ross, who worked with the University of Veterinary Medicine in Germany, also showed sounds other than laughter can evolve in the context of tickling. Mammals, including flying foxes, make sounds when they are tickled but they are not necessarily laughing.
Metro Ireland, 12 January 2010, p5.
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