In 16 years, Borneo lost more than 100,000 orangutans
February 15, 2018, Cell Press
Over a 16-year period, about half of the orangutans living on the island of Borneo were lost as a result of changes in land cover. That's according to estimates reported in Current Biology on February 15 showing that more than 100,000 of the island's orangutans disappeared between 1999 and 2015.
Many of those losses were apparently driven by the demand for logging, oil palm, mining, paper, and associated deforestation. However, many orangutans have also disappeared from more intact, forested areas, the researchers say. Those findings suggest that hunting and other direct conflicts between orangutans and people remain a major threat to the species.
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-global-demand-natural-resources-orangutans.html#jCp
