In 2014, the orangutan conservancy believes there are only around 40,000 orangutans remaining in Borneo and Sumatra. This is shocking knowing that only as recent as a decade ago the number of orangutans was at 60,000.
Many experts say that the orangutans could be extinct in the wild in less than 25 years time. Never before have orangutans chance of survival in the wild ever been threatened so severely. Economic crisis combined with natural disasters and human abuse of the animals and the forest are pushing one of humankind’s closest cousins to extinction.
THINGS THREATENING THE ORAN-UTANGS:
- Palm oil plantations
- Illegal hunting
- Loss of habitat through deforestation
- Illegal pet trade
Orangutans have lost at least 80% of their habitat or more in the last 20 years, and an estimation of one-third of the wild population killed during the fires of 1997-98.
The loss of rainforests due to logging over the past couple of decades has been shocking, but not as shocking as the amount of land being bulldozed by palm oil plantations in the 21st century. Every palm plantation that destroys thousands of hectares of land for money takes with it the lives of many orang-utans. Meanwhile, governmental orders were meant to protect the land and the animals, yet they disappear faster than the trees do.
In hindsight, if things don’t change or start changing soon and the main threats to the orang-utans- palm oil and deforestation aren’t put forward in a seriously urgent manner, wild orang-utans will be wiped of the face of this earth forever.
Even the smallest things can help in some way, you can start helping us by not buying products that contain palm oil, it won’t take long to just look at the back of the packaging and check for palm oil.
Many experts say that the orangutans could be extinct in the wild in less than 25 years time. Never before have orangutans chance of survival in the wild ever been threatened so severely. Economic crisis combined with natural disasters and human abuse of the animals and the forest are pushing one of humankind’s closest cousins to extinction.
THINGS THREATENING THE ORAN-UTANGS:
- Palm oil plantations
- Illegal hunting
- Loss of habitat through deforestation
- Illegal pet trade
Orangutans have lost at least 80% of their habitat or more in the last 20 years, and an estimation of one-third of the wild population killed during the fires of 1997-98.
The loss of rainforests due to logging over the past couple of decades has been shocking, but not as shocking as the amount of land being bulldozed by palm oil plantations in the 21st century. Every palm plantation that destroys thousands of hectares of land for money takes with it the lives of many orang-utans. Meanwhile, governmental orders were meant to protect the land and the animals, yet they disappear faster than the trees do.
In hindsight, if things don’t change or start changing soon and the main threats to the orang-utans- palm oil and deforestation aren’t put forward in a seriously urgent manner, wild orang-utans will be wiped of the face of this earth forever.
Even the smallest things can help in some way, you can start helping us by not buying products that contain palm oil, it won’t take long to just look at the back of the packaging and check for palm oil.