Orang-utan numbers declining sharply as forest makes way for palm oil farms

Orang-utans are in even greater decline than previously thought, with the latest study showing their numbers dropping sharply in Malasysia and Indonesia. As their habitat is destroyed for illegal logging and to expand palm oil plantations, scientists now warn that the intelligent, orange-haired mammal could become the first great ape to become extinct. The study was carried out by a US body, the Great Ape Trust, and will be published in this months' edition of Oryx, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It found that the number of orang-utans on Sumatra island in Indonesia has fallen by 14 per cent since 2004 to only 6,600 animals. None of the apes were found in Aceh province. In Malaysia's Borneo island, the largest home of the species, numbers fell by 10 per cent in the same period to 49,600 apes. Serge Wich, one of the... [read full story]