Why orangutans are hunted

Some experts predict the wild orangutan will be extinct in 20 years unless the orangutan habitats are effectively protected, and the illegal hunting of and trade in orangutans are ceased. Toggle navigation. Illegal logging. Forest and peat fires. Locals' lack of rights. In addition, forest and peat fires degrade the forests further.

Over 60 percent of orangutan habitats in Indonesia and Malaysia have been destroyed in the past four decades. Approximately 50,, in Borneo and about 15, in Sumatra. All rights reserved. People vs. Orangutans University of Oxford wildlife ecologist Amy Dickman said she was not surprised by the number of orangutans being killed in Indonesia.

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The killing of orangutans by plantation workers, or by farmers who see them as pests, is still a serious issue, and the majority of orangutans currently in rehabilitation centers are orphans rescued from plantations after their mothers have been killed. There have also been occasional reports from Aceh that suggest elements of the military have hunted orangutans for sport during the recent separatist conflict.

Beck, B. Best practice guidelines for the reintroduction of Great apes. Shepherd, C. Wich and his colleagues gathered data from surveys of Bornean orangutan nests between and , performed by 38 conservation and research organisations.

Orangutans make fresh nests to sleep in each night, so counting nests gives a good measure of orangutan numbers. In , surveyors spotted an average of 23 nests for every kilometre they walked through the forest. But by they only saw 10 nests per kilometre. In all, an estimated , animals were lost over the year period. It has been widely assumed that the main threat to Bornean orangutans is the destruction of their forest habitat, due to deforestation and the expansion of oil palm plantations.

But this proved incorrect.