Why Orangutans Need our Help
If current logging trends continue, most of Indonesia's National Parks are likely to be severely damaged within the next decade. They are amongst the last areas to hold valuable timber in commercially viable amounts.
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With a wild population of fewer than 7,000, the Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii) may be the first Great Ape to become extinct. Once widespread throughout the forests of Asia, orangutans are now confined to just two islands, Sumatra and Borneo. Both species are highly endangered due to habitat loss and poaching.
The term "Orang Hutan" literally translates as "Person of the Forest," and indeed, the orangutan shares 96.4% of its DNA with humans, making it one of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. The orangutan breeds much more slowly than any other primate, making the population even more vulnerable to habitat disturbance and hunting.
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The Sumatran Orangutan is classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN, indicating that it has an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. Since 1900, the number of Sumatran orangutans is thought to have fallen by over 90%, with a rapidly accelerating loss towards the end of the twentieth century. (McConkey 2005).
The situation is now acute for both the Bornean Orangutan and Sumatran Orangutan. These species are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The rapid rate of removal of food trees, killing of orangutans displaced by logging and plantation development, and fragmentation of remaining intact forest constitutes a conservation emergency.
More than one thousand orangutans are living in rescue centres in Borneo alone, with uncertain chances of ever returning to the wild. Recent estimates suggest that there are 40,000 to 50,000 Bornean Orangutans and only 6,600 Sumatran Orangutans remaining in the wild.
The Bornean Orangutan is classified as Endangered by IUCN (the World Conservation Union), indicating that it has a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.
What your donation will achieve:
Through our Plant A Rainforest Indonesia Project, our partner organisation will plant trees on your behalf and restore degraded habitat critical to the survival of the orangutan.
Through our Orangutan Habitat for Survival Project, your donation will go towards protecting orangutan habitat in Sumatra’s Bukit Tigapuluh National Park by preventing illegal logging and clearing.
Plant A Rainforest Indonesia Project Key Project Aims:
- To help reverse the damage of deforestation.
- Provides sustainable livelihoods for communities surrounding critical orangutan habitat.
- Raise awareness of the threats facing wild orangutans.
- Help the local people work towards a more sustainable future for their forests.
Orangutan Habitat for Survival Project Key Project Aims:
- Patrol the boundaries of National Parks to prevent illegal clearing and logging.
- Contain and extinguish fires that destroy habitat.
- Conduct community meetings and education.
Rainforest Rescue's Orangutan 'Habitat for Survival' Project is undertaken in association with the Australian Orangutan Project.
