Re: Extinction the facts
Originally Posted by
Muddy
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Bakerman I feel you are mistaking Orang-utans for Chimpanzees
Orang-utans do not reproduce quickly at all a female orangutan does not reach sexual maturity until between the ages of 10-15 years .- they do in fact have the slowest reproduction rates of all primates .
They live solitary lives they don’t live in pairs coming together only for mating .
A baby Orang-utan is completely helpless ( I have seen these and held them they are just like a human baby )
It nurses with its mother for three years but stays with her until about ages about seven.
Orangutans only live in certain parts of the tropical rainforest in Borneo and part of Sumatra .
They could not live on an island ( as do Chimpanzees )as they need the rainforest .
Unfortunately the rainforest is being increasingly destroyed for logging and palm oil.
( nothing lives in a Palm oil plantation they are devoid of life.
I only know these things because I lived in Borneo for many years .
I only meant that compared to the Panda Bear, Orangutans are fast reproducers.
I disagree with you about where Orangutans could live. Thousands of the uninhabited islands in and around Borneo/Sumatra/Indonesia/Philippines are indeed rain forests.
In any event Borneo/Sumatra ARE islands.
Suggestion: Anyone interested in preserving wild populations of Orangutans could start a movement to buy up an entire island, of sufficient size, in the area mentioned above, and turn it into a Orangutan wild preserve.
I suspect that if working closely with a few big names, (like Jane Goodall of chimpanzee fame) and a sympathetic local government, the island could be bought for very little money.
I don't know anything about how money is raised for such a project but I do know that there are dozens and dozens of well known global wildlife societies who could get you started and perhaps even join in.
I could go on and on but you get my thinking.
PS: unlike the African elephant, no-one is poaching Orangutans. So, little, if any, money would need to be spend on armed game rangers to protect the Orangutans. I can see how a small research team could live on the island to observe and study them