There were animals all along, however, the scientists said that now they were no less safe as a species. These assessments should take their effect on the forests into consideration, and the population of Sumatran orangutans that they will affect. Perhaps with proper cooperation, the destruction of their habitat could be reduced to a minimum or completely avoided. Moreover, should the deforestation of the orangs’ habitat go ahead as planned, as many as 4,500 individuals could vanish by 2030.
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The survey was conducted by an global team of researchers from the University of Amsterdam, Liverpool John Moores University, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and various organisations in Indonesia.
Conservationists have received a bit of good news concerning the low populations of Sumatran orangutans that were previously estimated.
The total Sumatran orangutan population has been estimated at 6600 individuals in previous surveys, according to an article published by the journal Science Advances.
Its close relative, the Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, lives only on the island of Borneo, about 450km (300 miles) away across the Java Sea. The research team has clarified that the critically endangered great ape number has become slightly better, but hasn’t reached the desired point yet. “Females virtually never travel on the ground and adult males do so rarely”.
A new survey meant to observe the population growth of Sumatran orangutans, concluded that growth has doubled than the previous census. The huge number of this critically endangered species of large apes was found living in mountains, as well as in areas west of Lake Toba.
Using lands, or at least creating plans to use the areas where the orangutans live may be detrimental to the species. Deforestation is a constant threat to the species’ future and current models suggest as many as 4,500 individual orangutans could disappear by 2030. The last survey of the orangutans’ nests could have been so far off the mark because the mammals were nesting at heights previously thought to be out of their range.
“The chance that there will be zero [Sumatran orangutans] in the near future is certainly less now”, lead study author Serge Wich said.
“Numerous development projects are planned in the area that, if they are not stopped, could sharply reduce the number of orangutans over the coming years”, he warned. This great ape is threatened by poaching and forest loss as a result of its habitat being increasingly used for agricultural purposes. Thousands of these slow-moving apes are believed to have burned to death, unable to escape the flames. There’s still a lot of work to be done if they wish to “turn the tide for the Sumatran orangutans”. “And some of those areas that we hadn’t gone to, they probably had orangutans that are now gone”.
But why is that despite larger numbers Sumatran orangutans are still endangered?
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The sad thing is that the study has been titled “Land-cover changes predict steep declines for the Sumatran orangutan”, thus there is significant downside to the rise. Arif, Rudi H. Putra, Rio Ardi, Gabriella Fredriksson, Graham Usher, David L.A. Gaveau and Hjalmar S. Kühl. Besides humans, these two orangutan species are the only great apes living in Asia today. It also includes the first-ever filmed birth of a captive orangutan.
