Orang-utans in danger of extinction

By MUGUNTAN VANAR

The Star Online, July 8 2008

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s isolated orang-utan population in Lower Kinabatangan may become extinct in 50 years if steps are not taken urgently to set up wildlife corridors to link forests fragmented by development.

A scientific journal, Oryx, in its latest publication said that although the Kinabatangan population of 1,100 orang-utans was more then enough for their survival, many were separated and isolated in small pockets of less than 250 animals, the minimum number for a viable population.

Affected species: A female orang-utan and her baby in Kinabatangan, Sabah. A study found that the mammals might become extinct in 50 years.

“It is essential that conservation measures are taken to protect orang-utans outside national parks, and these measures will by necessity be specific to each region,” stated the newly-released paper entitled Distribution and conservation status of the orang-utan on Borneo and Sumatra: How many remain?

The paper was written by conservationists and scientists from 16 institutions including the French non-governmental organisation Hutan. The Sabah Wildlife Department and Hutan have been studying orang-utan occurrence in protected and unprotected areas for a number of years.

Together with their partners, they have engaged landowners such as the Sabah Foundation, Sabah Forestry Department as well as private landowners in developing innovative conservation strategies to address the issue of orang-utans in unprotected areas.

Genetic modelling carried out by conservation geneticist Dr Benoit Goossens of Cardiff University and Dr Isabelle Lackman-Ancrenaz of Hutan found that the majority of the isolated orang-utan populations in Kinabatangan would become extinct in less than 50 years if nothing were done to reconnect the populations.

The paper also said that a study which reassessed orang-utan populations in Borneo now found that an estimated 75% of orang-utans in Kalimantan were outside protected areas.