Orangutan, endangered species in Borneo
Borneo, or Kalimantan is the largest island in Indonesian archipelago, also one of the largest island in the globe. This island holds a rich tropical rainforest and vast variety of flora and fauna. It also habitat of endemic animal. One of that endemic in Borneo is Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).
The habitat of Orang Utan that has been decreasing due to logging, land clearance and mining, pushed out orangutan to its edge. Rapidly decrease their numbers in the wild and killed by poachers. A study showing that 100,000 orangutan lost between 1999 to the 2015. The lost of their habitats added by area conflict between human and orangutan contributed more to this ape-human-like species. The name orangutan itself mean as ‘jungle man’. Orang is man, and utan is mean jungle.
Unsustainable, palm oil plantation also contribute to Otangutan lost, the land opening are massively hapened in Borneo, pushed out some orangutan to live in human-made sanctuary facilities environment. A research found that only 28 out of 64 nest has more 100 orangutan in their group member. The government of Indonesia has built several orangutan asylum in several area and protect a vast area of tropical forest to protect them.
Estimated of only 105,000 – 1 48,000 remain population of orangutan in Borneo, half of them living in the areas which is human resources use cause the orangutan can survive to adapt, but the closer they are to human can create conflict that usually won by human. Predicted that in the next 35 years from now, another 45,000 orangutan may die.
It is not just the protection of the tropical forest alone that endangered the species but also the human act to interact with them and not taking them as threat or game target.