Orangutans are often animals high on the list that people wish to see one day. Orangutans are the only great ape that lives outside Africa. While fossils show that at one time, it was found on the mainland of Asia, the Orangutan is now restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
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There are 3 species of Orangutan and their conservation status varies dramatically. The Orangutan was first scientifically described in 1779 by Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper.
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Until only 1997 it was thought that there was only 2 species of Orangutan, but the Tapanuli Orangutan lives on the island of Sumatra, but is closer related to the Borneo orangutan. One sad thing, is that there is a dam which is planned to be built, and if completed would remove 90% of the species remaining habitat – likely leading to its extinction. In 2020 its planning was paused for 3 years, which means that it should be getting going again later this year. I cannot see any recent articles on this subject, but will write on it when I find some.
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As with all great apes, the Orangutan is a keystone species and by saving its habitat, we save many thousands more as a by-product. The greatest threat has been palm oil plantations – while in theory these are created to reduce carbon emissions, it is questionable as to whether these plantations could ever be carbon negative. Building it on land that has to be cleared of rainforest, means that these palm oil plantations will have huge carbon footprints, which are likely to take over a century to pay off. As such it is not useful for climate change mitigation.
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As always, we hope to add many destinations for Orangutans in the near future, do get in touch if you wish to list somewhere in their range
Below, any listings that might get added in the future, you will find all the articles we have written on Orangutans
Will the 8th great ape- the Tapanuli orangutan – survive the first 2 decades after being described?
It is just 5 years since the Tapanuli orangutan was described. Despite this Orangutan being restricted to an area of Northern Sumatra, it is more
Orangutans are roaming into villages in Sumatra – bad news
At first glance, you could look at this headline as good news – in most instances, wild animals do not start looking outside their habitat
How do we save the worlds remaining wildlife? Animals like Orangutan need huge areas to survive and thrive
One proposal, is named as half earth. The idea is to set aside half of the land on earth as a human-free nature reserve in
A study found that 3/4 of oil palm concessions in Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo certified by RSPO were forest or wildlife habitat just 30 years ago!
It seems that so long as the initial cause of the deforestation was not palm oil (or perhaps not the current owners of the palm
In an effort to deal with encroachment into national parks Indonesia is trying a new policy
Many of the Indonesian forest reserves, have become paper parks, with much or most of the forestation and other vegetation lost. They clear land in
An arrested Sumatran politician – arrested for bribery, was found to have a pet Orangutan among a group of other exotic pets
There is a great deal of corruption in many parts of the world. In many places politicians are almost expected to give themselves extra benefits