Deep within the tropical rainforest of the Leuser Ecosystem, a baby\norangutan swings among tree crowns towering dozens of metres high. In\nthe wild, a young Sumatran orangutan can spend the first six to eight\nyears of its life with its mother. That period is not merely a growth\nphase, but a learning period that determines its survival. From its\nmother, it learns to recognise forest fruits, build nests in the canopy,\navoid predators, and understand the forest that is its home. Yet for\nsome baby orangutans in Aceh, that learning period ends tragically. They\nare torn from their mother\u2019s embrace and enter the wildlife trade chain,\nwhich has now become one of the most lucrative forms of environmental\ncrime in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
Behind every baby orangutan found in illegal trade, there is almost\nalways a story of a mother\u2019s death. Female orangutans have an extremely\nstrong bond with their young and will not release them until they are\nyears old. Because of this, hunters generally must kill the mother first\nbefore taking her baby (IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, 2019). Thus,\nevery baby orangutan successfully traded actually represents the loss of\nat least two generations at once: a productive adult female and a baby\nthat should have become the successor of the wild population.<\/p>\n
The Leuser Ecosystem is a landscape spanning more than 2.6 million\nhectares across Aceh and North Sumatra. This area is known as one of the\nmost important conservation landscapes in the world because it is a\nhabitat for four key mammals of Sumatra: the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo\nabelii), the Sumatran elephant, the Sumatran tiger, and the Sumatran\nrhinoceros (UNESCO, 2011). There is no other place on Earth where these\nfour species still coexist within a single, relatively intact\necosystem.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-black-market-trail-of-sumatran-orangutans-in-aceh-1781607128", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }