Orangutans make their nests high in the trees of Indonesia and Malaysia’s rainforests. But as palm oil plantations transform the south-east asian landscape, these Great Apes are finding themselves homeless — or worse, dead.
Palm oil has become essential for a variety of products, including shampoo, detergent, and even our beloved instant noodles. But the unsustainable growth of this agricultural industry has wiped out orangutan populations.
A century ago, around 2,30,000 orangutans existed in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Now, an estimated 48,500 are left. That’s roughly 80 percent fewer orangutans than in the early 1900s.
Orangutans are also victims of the pet trade. Female orangutans are killed, and their babies sold. Often, when these babies get big, their owners abandon them.
If Orangutans disappear completely, their role as seed distributors in forests will be lost. And since they don’t breed rapidly, repopulating orangutans is a lengthy process.
Conservation efforts need to include programmes that foster breeding and protect spaces for these Great Apes.