Save the Orangutans

These adorable apes are actually endangered in their home of Asia. They are endangered in Borneo putting their numbers at about 54,000. Unfortunately they are critically endangered in Sumatra putting their numbers at 6,500. Things like farming, logging, and burning of forests have destroyed about 80% of their home in the rainforest. Another issues is the Palm Oil plantations that are popping up and also destroying the rain forest. It was shown that about 800 orangutans are being lost a year due to habitat destruction. Also poaching is an issue with poachers kill the mothers and take the young orangutans and sell them into the illegal pet trade.

Although orangutans have been shown to be very flexible in their habitat and dietary needs their numbers are still declining. Part of that issue is the fact that their reproductive cycles take such a long time. In a previous post it was mentioned that gestation periods last about 9 months and that mother orangutans take care of their young till they are about 7 years old. This causes any repopulation to take a lot longer than it would with any other animal.

However there are many organizations that are taking the initiative to help the orangutans. For instance our own San Diego Zoo works in conservation efforts with the Orangutans. There area also many websites to be found of groups that have opened Orangutan Sanctuaries as well as groups that are trying to actively protect the Orangutan's habitat. There are many things we can do like just donating money to help the cause or even adopting your own orangutan (not literally of course), and of course just raising awareness even helps the cause.




sources:

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-orangutan.html

http://www.orangutanrepublik.org/become-aware/issues/orangutans-a-wildlife/threats-to-orangutans-mainmenu-5

http://orangutancentre.org/about-orangutan/