2,500 orangutans found in E. Kalimantan

2,500 orangutans found in E. Kalimantan

JAKARTA: The Nature Conservancy said Thursday that it had
discovered a large population of endangered orangutans while
surveying a remote forest in central Indonesia.

Researchers said they had found more than 2,500 animals in
East Kalimantan province on Borneo island. The find would be
significant because it could increase the known primate
population - estimated between 14,000 and 25,000 and mostly in
Indonesia - by nearly one-fifth.

"This find represents one of the last, best chances to protect
a large healthy population of wild orangutans," said Steve
McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy.

The environmental group said it will sign a declaration with
authorities in East Kalimantan and the Ministry of Forestry to
conserve and manage the lowland forests where the orangutans were
found.

"The discovery of a large, biologically viable orangutan
population in East Kalimantan is very significant," said Birute
Mary Galdikas, president of Orangutan Foundation International.
"This find extends the orangutan's known range and gives us hope
that we can save the orangutan population from extinction in the
wild."

Orangutans face extinction because of their popularity as pets
and in circus acts in Indonesia and overseas. They are also
losing out to illegal logging and development, which are
destroying their natural habitat. --AP