News report on Orangutans

 Orange orangutans: primates in peril

By Dhruv Shah

Orangutans are great apes that belong to the family of primates containing gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. They are native to the rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia. On 26 September 2021, The Orangutan Foundation (TOF) contacted the NIE with information regarding the declining population of orangutans inhabiting Sumatra and Borneo, the reasons behind it, and the measures taken to prevent it by them. The information was dismaying.

Primarily arboreal, both Sumatran and Bornean orangutans are well adapted for their habitat, possessing long and powerful arms to aid them to climb and swing between trees, and elongated fingers and toes which help them grab tree branches. They are adroit, because, they use tools to help them, remember the entire forest, and construct a sleeping nest every night, made from branches and leaves.

Orangutans constantly face threats due to a plethora of causes. Humans play a major role in destroying their rainforest homes, one of the leading reasons for orangutan endangerment. TOF estimated that around eighty percent of orangutans’ forest homes have been lost in twenty years. Illegal open cast mining done by people for gold has caused irreparable damage to their habitats, making them an infertile, barren desert. Another reason for rainforest destruction is the cultivation of palm trees to obtain palm oil. There is an increasing demand for palm oil, which gives birth to gigantic palm oil producers such as Indonesia and Malaysia. To meet this demand, the rainforests are being cut down indiscriminately and being made into palm oil plantations.

TOF preserves orangutans, buys plantations to regrow rainforests, and implores local people to protect rainforests, making them realize the orangutans’ and their dependence on them. The CEO of TOF stated, “We prognosticate that without rainforests, orangutans will go extinct.”

Credit: istockphoto.com

By Dhruv Shah