World Orang-utan Day
Named for their likeness to humans, ‘Orang’ meaning ‘person’ and ‘hutan’ meaning ‘forest’ in Malay, these ‘people of the forest’ have become symbolic of conservation in recent years, I’m sure we all remember the potent Iceland advert of 2018. Yet despite their ever-growing celebrity status in the conservation world, those working to mitigate their decline are facing a hard battle to save our ginger cousins from extinction.
Illustration by Paige Blake.
August 19th is World Orang-utan Day, but who are these red apes and why are they facing such tremendous declines?
Endemic to the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the 3 species of orang-utan (Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli) are the only non-human species of ape found in Asia. The smallest and least social of all the apes, orang-utans roam the lowland rainforests leading a generally solitary life, rarely descending to the forest floor. They hold huge cultural significance for the local people, which you can see through some of their myths and legends. The Dayaks of Borneo believe that orang-utans are their ancestors and others that they are people by day, returning to the forest in their animal form at night. Whether or not there is any truth in these legends, it is easy to see, with their remarkable intelligence and human-like mannerisms, why people feel a deep affinity to these apes with which we share 97% of our DNA.
As well as this, orang-utans provide great services to the rainforests which they call home. Known colloquially as ‘the gardeners of the forest’, 60% of their diet is made up of fruits, whilst the rest is made up of basically anything they can get their hands on: bark, leaves, small animals, honey. Because of the high amount of fruit in their diet and the massive distances they travel daily, orang-utans are essential seed dispersers, consuming and dispersing seeds across distances of up to 15 square miles, which is vital to the maintenance of a healthy and productive forest. Research published in 2018 showed that not only were seeds found in 73% of orang-utan faeces, but these seeds showed greater and faster germination success, highlighting just how significant they are to their ecosystem and the other animals which rely on the forest.
Despite their charm and ecosystem benefits, orang-utans have been facing a snowballing decline in their populations since the 1950s. Once incredibly populous across mainland South-east Asia, they are now restricted to just 2 islands. Their populations are down 60% and they are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN redlist. So what are the major threats to these apes and what can we do to rewrite the narrative before their story ends?
Image by Rendy Novantino, Unsplash.
It will come as no surprise that the biggest threat to orang-utan populations is deforestation, the loss of their home. In the last 30 years, it is estimated that 80% of orang-utan home range forest was cut down for timber and to make room for mining and agriculture, particularly palm oil plantations. For a species adapted for life in the trees, this is obviously devastating. Deforestation not only reduces the space and resources available to orang-utans, but the lack of corridors between areas of suitable habitat, means it is much more difficult for them to find new homes when theirs is destroyed. Over the last 40 years, global demand has seen oil palm production in Malaysia driven up to more 3 million hectares and similarly to 3.5 million hectares in Indonesia. Globally the palm oil industry is thought to be worth more than US$40 billion and the economic growth and support which this provides local people and their livelihoods, is an important factor in the conversation regarding the orang-utan’s future. Further to this, much more of their habitat is destroyed through forest fires. The fires are often started deliberately to clear land for plantations but have increasingly been getting out of control due to lower rainfall and rising average temperatures. We are only just beginning to understand the long term health effects of these fires on the orang-utans.
Aside from the destruction of their homes, orang-utans also have to contend with a rising pressure from hunting. Driven primarily by the demand for infants as pets, mothers are killed and sold as bush-meat whilst the infants are sold on. It is believed that the demand for great apes and primates as pets worldwide, has been heightened by their use in entertainment. Films such as Clint Eastwood’s ‘Every which way but loose’ portray orang-utans which have been anthropomorphised (made to seem human by being dressed in clothes and being taught to use human gestures). Add up the number or orang-utans removed from the wild for the pet trade with those who are shot because they are considered a pest species on the plantations that litter their homeland, and the numbers begin to stack up. However, because of its illegality, it is hard to get an accurate estimate of exactly how many orang-utans fall victim to the pet trade and so it may well be that the numbers are even worse than we think.
Deforestation and poaching are hardly localised issues, the same story can be heard time and again across the world including in Africa where the rest of the great apes reside. So why are orang-utan populations declining at such an unprecedented rate in comparison to their African relatives? To answer this, we have to delve deeper into how orang-utans live their lives. Orang-utans have a slow life-history. Life history traits are the changes that an animal undergoes in its lifetime such as age and growth, age at first reproduction and the size of reproductive intervals and these traits differ by species. So orang-utans with their slow life-history, wait until they’re older to start reproducing, and leave longer gaps between each reproductive event – an average of 7.5 years. This means that the number of orang-utans that are being born each year, is not enough to compensate for the losses elsewhere and so their populations are shrinking..
Organisations making a difference
But is it all doom and gloom? Are we so far past redemption that we should just deem the orang-utan a tragic, lost cause and move on to other species at threat? Well, there are many charities around the world, who believe there is still hope for the orang-utans yet. Below are just a handful of these initiatives:
The Orangutan Project
Established in 1988, The Orangutan Project is an NGO that supports projects across Borneo and Sumatra which focus on orang-utan rescue and rehabilitation as well as forest protection and regeneration. They have established the world’s most successful breeding colony of orang-utans and in 2019-20 they released 357 individuals back into the wild.
Borneo Nature Foundation
Established in 1999, Borneo Nature Foundation works in Sebangau National Park, the largest remaining continuous orang-utan habitat in the world. They focus on protecting and regenerating the orang-utan’s remaining habitat through initiatives such as their 1 million trees campaign which aims to plant 1 million trees in the Sebangau National Park by 2025.
Center for Great Apes
Established in 1997 in Florida, the Center for Great Apes is the only sanctuary in the country that rescues apes specifically from the tourist and entertainment industry. These apes would not survive out in the wild as most are captive-born or taken from the wild as infants.
Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan, Borneo - Photo by Olivia Bell.
What can I do?
These organisations are working to ensure a future for the orang-utans but there are also some smaller steps that we can all take to help out:
Make conscious shopping choices – palm oil plantations and logging are devastating the orang-utan’s natural habitat. So on your next supermarket trip, look out for the Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Palm Oil logos which can help you ensure your products have been made sustainably.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – we heard it from the godfather of conservation himself, David Attenborough’s top tip to save the planet is ‘just don’t waste.’ By switching to reusable coffee cups for example, we can reduce our paper consumption, which reduces the market demand for logging companies.
Raise awareness – There are so many charities working hard to save orang-utans, so why not get involved and host a fundraising event. It may not seem like much, but just by spreading the word and encouraging others to make sustainable choices, we can put pressure on bigger companies to do the same, ultimately reducing the stress on the orang-utans and their habitat.
The orang-utans may still have an uphill battle ahead of them, but they are by no means out of the fight and if we all do our bit, we may just have time to save our red-haired relatives yet.
Thank you to Paige Blake for her beautiful illustration. You can find more of her work on her Instagram @ptb__illustration.
Olivia Bell
Olivia is a Zoology MSci graduate from the University of Exeter. She has keen interests in ground-up conservation and human-wildlife conflict and coexistence. She is passionate about scientific writing and communication, believing that conservation is doomed to fail if not accessible to all. She has always enjoyed writing, creatively and informatively and is glad that at Bloom in Doom she is able to combine this with her love of the natural world.
Instagram: @livi_onaprayer