Thousands Of Orangutans Found On Indonesian Island
Conservationists have identified a new population of up to 2,000 orangutans in a remote corner of Indonesia.
"We can’t say for sure how many," said Erik Meijaard, a senior ecologist at The Nature Conservancy who led the weeklong survey in December.
However, a cautious estimate would be "several hundred at least, maybe 1,000 or 2,000 even," he told the Associated Press.
The find gives a rare boost to one of the planet’s most endangered great apes.  According to estimates, there are now just 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 90 percent of which are in Indonesia and the rest in neighboring Malaysia.
Meijaard and his team made their discovery as they surveyed forests nestled between jagged, limestone cliffs in the mountainous region on the eastern edge of Borneo island. They counted 219 orangutan nests, pointing to "substantial" number of the animals, Meijaard said.
The team had encountered an adult male orangutan during their survey, which furiously threw branches as they tried to take photos. They also found a mother and child.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the top global producers of palm oil used in food, cosmetics and "clean-burning" fuels in the U.S. and Europe.Â
The solitary orangutans spend most of their time in rain forests, which have been cut and burned at troubling rates to make room for lucrative palm oil plantations.
Some experts believe that at the current rate of habitat destruction, orangutans could be wiped out entirely within the next 20 years.
But at least for now, the region’s poor soil, steep topography and inaccessibility seem to have protected the area from development, according to Meijaard.  The area’s trees include those highly sought for commercial timber.
Birute Mary Galdikas, a Canadian scientist who has spent 40 years studying orangutans in the wild, told the AP that the majority of the remaining orangutan populations are small and sparse, making them particularly susceptible to extinction.
"So yes, finding a population that science did not know about is significant, especially one of this size," she said, adding that those found on the eastern part of the island represent the rare subspecies pongo pygmaeus morio, also known as the black Borneon orangutan.
The 700-square mile jungle had avoided the vast fires that destroyed nearly all of the neighboring forests during the late 1990s. Plantation owners and farmers had set the fires, which were exacerbated by the El Nino droughts.
Nardiyono said "it could be the density is very high because after the fires, the orangutans all flocked to one small area."
It was rare to come face-to-face with even one of the elusive animals in the wild, but to encounter three was remarkable, he added.
Before this expedition, Nardiyono had seen just five, he said.
Conservationists say the most urgent work now will be coordinating with local authorities to protect the area. A previously undiscovered orangutan population of several hundred was also recently discovered on Sumatra island, home to around 7,000.
"That we are still finding new populations indicates that we still have a chance to save this animal," said Paul Hartman, head of the Orangutan Conservation Service Program, told the Associated Press.
It’s not all "gloom and doom," he said.
Noviar Andayani, head of the Orangutan Forum and Indonesian Primate Association, said the latest find illustrates how much work still needs to be done to compile accurate orangutan population assessments, believed crucial to determining a species’ susceptibility to extinction.
"There are many areas that still have not been surveyed," she said.
There are now 18 private conservation groups working on a detailed census based on interviews with those who spend time in the forests, such as villagers and plantation workers, she said.
"We hope this will help fill in a few more gaps," Andayani told the AP, adding that initial tests in areas where populations are known to exist suggest an interview-based technique could provide a better picture than nest totals.
"Right now the information and data we have about orangutans is still pretty rudimentary," she said.
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