Endangerment of orangutans facts for kids
There are three types of orangutans. The Bornean orangutan lives on the island of Borneo, in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. The Sumatran orangutan and the Tapanuli orangutan are both found only on the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia. Sadly, all three kinds of orangutans are in great danger. They are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means they are very close to disappearing forever.
Contents
Why Orangutan Numbers Are Shrinking
Over the last 60 years, the number of orangutans has dropped a lot. It's hard to know the exact number left, but here are the estimates:
- About 104,000 Bornean orangutans
- Around 14,000 Sumatran orangutans
- Only about 800 Tapanuli orangutans
The number of Bornean orangutans has gone down by more than 60% in 60 years. Sumatran orangutan numbers have dropped by 80% in the last 75 years. Between 1999 and 2015, over 100,000 Bornean orangutans were lost.
The main reason for this big drop is that orangutans are losing their homes. This happens because of too much logging to make things like palm oil. Orangutans need forests to live and find food. They build nests in trees to sleep and eat fruits from the trees. Also, orangutans are killed by poaching. Often, mothers are killed, and their babies are taken and sold illegally as pets.
Many groups and non-profit organizations are working to save orangutans. But experts warned in 2016 that if big changes aren't made to stop cutting down forests, orangutans could face extinction very soon.
Losing Their Homes: Deforestation
Deforestation (cutting down forests) in Sumatra and Borneo is the biggest threat to all orangutan species. Trees are cut down to make palm oil, paper, and pulp. A lot of this logging is against the law. As the palm oil industry has grown, even more trees have been cut down.
Forests are the orangutans' home. When forests are destroyed, orangutans are forced to come closer to people. This makes them easier targets for poaching.
Logging started becoming a big problem in the 1970s. It was mainly for furniture and other products. Later, when palm oil became popular, even more forests were cleared. Palm oil is now used in many foods and products around the world. It's even used to make biodiesel. This high demand means more and more forests are being cut down, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. These two countries produce most of the world's palm oil.
By 1985, a huge amount of forest was being cut down each year in Borneo. This rate kept going up. By 2007, about 1.3 million hectares of forest were lost every year. Today, only about half of Borneo's original forests are left. If things don't change, even less will remain. Since orangutans cannot live outside forests, this huge loss of their homes has caused their numbers to drop sharply.
Forests are also destroyed by fires. Some fires are set on purpose by palm oil companies. Orangutans caught in these fires often die. If they survive, they might starve without food or a home. They might also try to escape and then be caught by people. Some people might kill them for food, keep them as pets, or sell them illegally.
Illegal Hunting: Poaching
Illegal poaching is the second biggest reason why orangutan numbers are falling. Hunters see orangutans as easy targets because they are large and not very fast. Sumatran, Tapanuli, and Bornean orangutans are killed for many reasons. The most common reasons are for their meat or because farmers think they are a threat to their crops.
A survey found that 56% of people who admitted to killing an orangutan did so to eat it. Other reasons include killing them out of fear or to protect themselves. Some orangutans are killed to take their babies to sell. Others are killed for traditional medicine or for sport hunting. Sometimes, they are killed by accident when hunters are looking for other animals.
A survey by National Geographic found that between 750 and 1,790 Bornean orangutans are killed each year in Borneo. This number is much higher than the number of babies born each year. Poaching is often linked to deforestation. When forests are cut down, orangutans might go into palm oil farms to find food. This makes them more likely to be killed by plantation workers.
In recent years, poaching has become easier because hunters use better weapons and methods. This includes using poisons and powerful guns. Most poaching is done by plantation workers or villagers who eat or sell orangutan meat. Some believe the meat has special health benefits.
Selling Pets Illegally
The illegal trade of wild animals is one of the most profitable illegal businesses in the world. Orangutans are among the most expensive animals sold in this trade. Poachers often kill adult female orangutans just to take their babies. These baby orangutans are then sold on the black market.
Hunters might get about $80 to $200 for a baby orangutan. These babies are often sent to cities like Jakarta, Indonesia, to be sold to rich people as pets. Some are even shipped to Thailand and sold for as much as $55,000.
This illegal pet trade greatly harms orangutan populations. Mothers are killed just so their babies can be sold. Also, many of these orphaned babies do not survive the harsh conditions of being kept as pets or during travel. It's thought that for every baby orangutan sold, between 1 and 6 adult orangutans are killed.
Orangutan Population History
In the 1980s, more and more timber was needed around the world. This led to a big increase in logging. Between 1985 and 2001, about 56% of the tropical rainforests in Borneo were cut down. The fastest rate of deforestation happened in the late 1990s. This loss of forests directly caused the orangutan population to shrink, as they cannot live anywhere else.
It is believed that since 1950, the orangutan population has gone down by 60%. Between 1999 and 2015, about 100,000 Bornean orangutans were lost.
While we don't know the exact numbers today, it's estimated that there are about 104,000 Bornean orangutans, 14,000 Sumatran orangutans, and 800 Tapanuli orangutans left in the wild. About 1,000 more are living in special conservation places.
What the Future Might Hold
Experts believe that if forests keep being lost, and poaching and illegal pet trading continue, the orangutan population will keep shrinking. It's thought that in the next 35 years, another 45,000 orangutans could be lost. By 2025, there might be only 47,000 Bornean orangutans left in the wild.
Helping Orangutans: Conservation Efforts
Because orangutan numbers have dropped so much, many conservation sites and non-profit groups have started working to prevent their extinction. There are two main ways they try to help:
- Rehabilitating Orangutans: They help orangutans that have been abandoned or kept illegally.
- Protecting Forests: They work to save forest areas and stop deforestation where orangutans live.
Studies have shown that preventing deforestation is much more effective and cheaper than trying to help individual orangutans. So, stopping logging is key for long-term protection.
Other ways to help orangutans include:
- Doing more research and keeping track of orangutans.
- Protecting land and water.
- Managing the species carefully.
- Teaching people about orangutans to raise awareness.
- Creating international legislation (laws) and controls on trade.
Some groups also work with palm oil companies and local governments. For example, in 2011, a big palm oil producer called Wilmar International signed an agreement with the Central Kalimantan government and the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF). They agreed to protect Bornean orangutans. This included watching how palm oil farms operate, setting aside safe areas for orangutans, moving abandoned orangutans, and teaching farm workers how to deal with orangutans without causing harm.
The World Wild Life (WWL) group works with TRAFFIC to stop orangutan trafficking. They do this by pushing governments to make and enforce strict rules. They also rescue trafficked orangutans and release them back into the wild after they have been cared for.
Scientists believe the only way to stop the rapid decline of orangutans is to completely stop cutting down their forest homes and to put strong protection methods in place. However, because there is such a high demand for palm oil and not enough money from governments, it is very hard to prevent the rapid decline and possible extinction of orangutans.
The tropical rainforests of Sumatra, where the Sumatran orangutan and Tapanuli orangutan live, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004. This means they are recognized as very important places that need to be protected.
What More Needs to Be Done
According to the IUCN Redlist, more actions are needed to save orangutans from disappearing. These include:
- Protecting more areas of land.
- Helping orangutan populations recover.
- Restoring their habitats and natural processes.
- Protecting resources and making stronger laws.
- More research is also needed on orangutan types, how many there are, where they live, what threatens them, and how to manage their habitats.
