West Kalimantan orangutans in great danger<\/p>\n
KETAPANG, West Kalimantan (JP): When you are in the area of
\nGunung Palung National Park, you must be impressed by the
\npresence of its orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), billed as the
\nworld's largest and healthiest.<\/p>\n
Orangutans -- found only in Sumatra and Kalimantan -- numbered
\nbetween 20,000 and 25,000 according to 1993 data. In Borneo, in
\nboth Indonesian and Malaysian, the population of orangutans is
\nrecorded at 10,282 to 15,546. In Gunung Palung National Park
\nthere are about 2,000 of them.<\/p>\n
In the past two decades the world's orangutan population has
\ndeclined by some 80 percent. In the past decade alone in
\nKalimantan, between 30 percent - 50 percent of the orangutans
\nhave been killed, leaving only 5,141 to 7,773 remaining.<\/p>\n
Depending on the natural condition, the population of
\norangutans is generally one to three per square kilometer. As
\nmore forest areas have been cleared, the population density has
\nbecome higher because they usually group together to forage for
\nfood. Just like human beings, orangutans can suffer diseases such
\nas malaria and colic.<\/p>\n
An orangutan can weigh up to 100 kg. It is generally 10 times
\nstronger than an average human being. A female orangutan begins
\nto have their babies at age 11 to 15 years while males are
\nsexually mature for reproduction at age 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n
A female orangutan is pregnant for 9 months and breast-feeds
\nits young for five to six years. She also looks after her young
\nfor two to three more years. She will mate again eight years
\nafter giving birth and then the reproduction cycle begins all
\nover again.<\/p>\n
An orangutan can live up to 45 years. Therefore, a female
\norangutan can give birth to a maximum of four babies. According
\nto research, the mortality rate of baby orangutans stands at 10
\npercent. If you wish to get a baby orangutan, you must first kill
\nthe mother. You can imagine then the speed at which the
\npopulation of orangutans will be reduced if about 10 mother
\norangutans are killed every year.<\/p>\n
Orangutans live on low-lying land of a river basin and in the
\nfoothills (like Gunung Palung National Park). The distribution of
\norangutans in the habitant is very much dependent on the
\navailability of food.<\/p>\n
Orangutans feed on a variety of forest fruits. When fruits are
\nnot available, they will be content with leaves, edible topmost
\nand innermost palm fronds, the bark of certain trees and insects.
\nA six-year research conducted by Harvard University at Gunung
\nPalung National Park comes up with some 300 kinds of food for
\norangutans.<\/p>\n
During the fruit season, orangutans will gain weight, a
\ncondition enabling them to survive when fruits are scarce and
\nthey have to feed on bark, leaves and flowers. In the peak of the
\nfruit season, social interaction and mating also increase in
\nfrequency. When fruit supplies become scarce, they use up their
\nfat and lose weight.<\/p>\n
Then, the orangutans must walk longer distances in search of
\nfood. The orangutans in Gunung Palung National Park must go
\nthrough swampy forests, walk across lowlands and a mountain chain
\njust to find trees with fruit.<\/p>\n
Hunting<\/p>\n
Today the orangutans in Gunung Palung are greatly threatened
\nby the loss of their habitat and hunting. If allowed to go on
\nunchecked, rampant lumber theft, opening up of land for non-
\nirrigated farming and forest fires will lead led to the gradual
\ndisappearance of the habitat of orangutans.<\/p>\n
Once they lose their habitat, orangutans will become extinct
\nbecause of starvation.<\/p>\n
According to Elizabeth Yaap, head of the Orangutan Research
\nProject of Harvard University in Gunung Palung National Park,
\nrehabilitation is not good for the conservation of orangutans
\nbecause when they are raised by people they will not return to
\ntheir original and natural habitat.<\/p>\n
They will instead return to their rehabilitation center
\nbecause they have mingled with human beings. Besides, orangutans
\nraised in the rehabilitation center must not be released into the
\nwild where there are already other orangutans, said Elizabeth,
\nformer orangutan researcher at Tanjung Puting, Central
\nKalimantan.<\/p>\n
"If this happens, there will be food scarcity and the
\norangutans will die," she noted.<\/p>\n
According to her, the best way to conserve orangutans is to
\nconserve nature, their original home. Orangutans will multiply if
\nits natural home is in good condition and its food is sufficient.<\/p>\n
The people living around Gunung Palung have often posed these
\nquestions: "What's the use of spending millions of U.S. dollars
\non orangutans while the people in the surrounding areas are still
\npoor? Why don't you allocate the funds to improve the welfare of
\nthe people living around the area?"<\/p>\n
According to Elizabeth, orangutans are considered an umbrella
\nspecies, the main animal in the life cycle of creatures in the
\ntropical rain forest.<\/p>\n
"If orangutans are extinct, there will be imbalance in the
\necosystem in a tropical rain forest," she said.<\/p>\n
Orangutans are main seed-spreading animals. As they look for
\nfood covering a distance in the radius of 30 km, they spread the
\nseeds of particular endemic plants in a tropical rain forest
\narea. So, protecting orangutans actually means protecting other
\nspecies.<\/p>\n
Ary S Sugandhi, an orangutan researcher from Conservation
\nInternational Indonesia, says orangutans are yet to be managed in
\naccordance with their economic value.<\/p>\n
In fact, he says, in a national park in Costa Rica, for
\nexample, a few gorillas can bring in US$598,000 a year to the
\ncountry's tourism sector. In this respect, Ir Lestari, an officer
\nof Gunung Palung National Park, has admitted that the national
\npark is yet to be professionally managed.<\/p>\n
To save orangutans, researchers have recommended that the law
\nmust be more firmly enforced and heavier penalties exacted on
\nthose involved in orangutan hunting and trading.<\/p>\n
Research<\/p>\n
The orangutan research station in Gunung Palung is located at
\nGunung Panti. It was Cheryl Knott of Harvard University who
\ninitiated this research in 1994. Other researchers after Knott
\ninclude Elizabeth Yaap and Andrea Johnson.<\/p>\n
According to Yaap, the orangutan research in Gunung Palung is
\nconcerned not only with the behavior, reproduction and
\nphysiological aspect of orangutans but also with efforts to
\nconserve and rehabilitate them.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government has made use of the results of
\norangutan researches undertaken under this project for its 1999
\nOrangutan Action Plan, a national strategy devised to protect
\nthis animal against the threat of extinction.<\/p>\n
In orangutan research, the researcher must keep tabs on the
\nanimal from the time it awakes until the time it goes to sleep in
\norder to observe its behavior; what it eats and how much of the
\nfood it eats; the distance it covers as well as its routes and
\nhow it interacts with other orangutans. Besides all this, an
\norangutan's urine and feces will also be collected to find out
\nits hormones and parasites.<\/p>\n
The researchers form Harvard University regularly invite
\nstudents and local people to visit the research station.<\/p>\n
"It is expected that in this way the local people will be
\naware of the need to conserve this national park and the
\norangutans in it," said Johnson.<\/p>\n
The presence of orangutans in Gunung Palung is also beneficial
\nbecause it has reduced the frequency of timber and animal theft
\nin the forest as the thieves are afraid of being reported to the
\nauthorities by those conducting research on the animal.<\/p>\n
In Kalimantan orangutan researches are conducted at five
\nsites: Gunung Panti Research Station in Gunung Palung National
\nPark (Ketapang, West kalimantan), River Sekonyer in Tanjung
\nPuting National Park (Central Kalimantan), Orangutan
\nReintroduction Station in Semboja Forest Research Center (East
\nKalimantan), Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center (Sabah,
\nMalaysia), Bako Wildlife Sanctuary (Sarawak, Malaysia).<\/p>\n
If you are interested to know more about orangutans in Gunung
\nPalung National Park you may contact the following: (1) National
\nPark Unit - Ketapang, Jl. KH Wahid Hasyim No. 41 A PO Box 141
\nKetapang 78801 Tel\/Fax No. (0534) 33539, (2) Elizabeth Yaap or
\nAndrea Johnson - Orangutan Project Harvard University, PO Box
\n162, Ketapang 78801, Fax 0534-32740 E-mail: yaap@usa.net, (3) Dr
\nCheryl Knott, Vice Director of Orangutan Project, Department of
\nAnthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge,
\nMA 02138 Fax: 0011-617-496-8041 e-mail: knott@fas.harvard.edu.<\/p>\n
-- Edi Petebang<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/west-kalimantan-orangutans-in-great-danger-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }