Chimpanzee News - Other Great Apes
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Biology and Behaviour | Evolution and Genetics | Conservation and Threats | Captive Chimpanzees
Vegetarian orang-utans eat world's cutest animal
17-01-2012 - NewScientist
When fruit is scarce, try chomping on a slow loris. That seems to be the strategy adopted by the normally vegetarian orang-utans, which have been spotted knocking the small primates out of trees and killing them with a bite to the head. Sumatran orang-utans (Pongo abelii) get almost all their nutrients from fruit and other plant products, but there are a few isolated reports of them eating meat (American Journal of Primatology, vol 43, p 159). Madeleine Hardus of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and colleagues have now observed three more cases, bringing the total to nine. |
How orangutans survive potential starvation
14-12-2011 - LiveScience
Orangutans in Borneo can survive potential starvation by using their body fat and muscles as energy until a bounty of food is available, researchers find, adding that the results may someday shed light on the eating habits of our earliest ancestors. The findings may also speak to various low-carb, high-protein diets, because essentially weight comes down to caloric intake for these orangutans as it does us, the researchers say. In Borneo, an island in Southeast Asia, forests go through periods of high fruit yield, where around 80 percent or more of the plants will produce fruit all at once. Following these "masting" periods, the forests endure stretches of sparse fruit availability that can last anywhere from two to eight years. To survive in this unpredictable environment, orangutans put on fat by gorging on fruits when they're available, and then live off of these reserves until the next masting year. |
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Survey: Indonesians killed 750 orangutans in year
14-11-2011 - abcNews
Villagers living on the Indonesian side of Borneo killed at least 750 endangered orangutans in a year, some to protect crops from being raided and others for their meat, a new survey shows.
Such practices, never before quantified, are now believed to be a more serious threat to the existence of the red apes than previously thought, Erik Meijaard, the main author of the report that appeared in the journal PLoSOne, said Monday.
Indonesia — home to 90 percent of the orangutans left in the wild — was blanketed with plush rain forests less than 50 years ago, but half those trees have since been cleared in the rush to supply the world with timber, pulp, paper and more recently, palm oil.
Is there any space left for our apes?
02-11-2011 - JakartaGlobe
| Around 70 percent of orangutan habitats are vulnerable to logging and other human activities because they fall outside conservation areas, a fact that could threaten efforts to protect the apes, a study has found. Niel Makinuddin, the East Kalimantan program manager for the Nature Conservancy, said on Tuesday that only 30 percent of the endangered species’ habitat was protected because it fell within conservation areas. As for the orangutans outside these areas, he said during the launch of the executive summary of the Kalimantan Orangutan Portrait, they are prone to getting killed or trapped by villagers after encroaching onto farmland, villages and other human habitations. |
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Indonesia may host man-made 'orangutan island'
26-10-2011 - the Guardian
UK conservationist plans to create four new islands in northern Sumatra for sick and injured orangutans currently in cages A British conservationist is leading an audacious plan to create a chain of man-made islands in northern Sumatra that would liberate the Indonesian island's population of caged orangutans. Dr Ian Singleton aims to create four islands of grass, shrubs and trees for sick and injured orangutans – those who are unable to be reintroduced to the natural habitat – to roam, freeing them from the 3x4m cages in which they currently reside. Singleton is currently in the process of securing land for the islands. The ideal location would be near the coast with a consistent supply of fresh water via a stream or river. |
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Rare orang-utan to be released into wild
13-10-11 - SMH
A rare Sumatran orang-utan born at Perth Zoo will be released into a protected rainforest in Indonesia as part of an international program to save the species from extinction. The six-year-old male named Semeru will become the first zoo-born male orang-utan in the world to be released into the wild. It follows the success of Temara, a female Sumatran orang-utan also born in Perth Zoo and released into Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumatra in November 2006. Semeru - chosen for release based on his temperament and age - will be flown to Indonesia on October 16 and spend two weeks in quarantine before he is released into the same park. |
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Baby gorilla on black market for $40,000 is rescued
11-10-11 - msn.com
Congo official: 'Growing market ... is feeding a dangerous trafficking activity' run by rebels
The black market for baby gorillas is growing, officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Tuesday, after a fourth incident this year led to the arrest of alleged poachers trying to sell one infant for $40,000. This year marks "the highest number of baby gorillas confiscated from poachers in a single year on record," the Congolese Wildlife Authority said in a statement. "We are very concerned about a growing market for baby gorillas that is feeding a dangerous trafficking activity in rebel controlled areas," said Emmanuel de Merode, warden of Congo's Virunga National Park. "We are powerless to control the international trade in baby gorillas, but our rangers are doing everything they can to stamp it out on the ground." |
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Gorilla poachers brutally murder forest ranger
09-10-11 - Mongabay
Forest ranger, Zomedel Pierre Achille, was brutally murdered by gorilla poachers near Lobéké National Park in Cameroon, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Achille and another ranger, Jean Fils Mamendji, attempted to take poachers into custody after discovering the bodies of two Western lowland gorillas in the poachers' camp. The rangers were fired on and both shot, however, Mamendji was able to escape.
A rescue mission found Achille the next day, but he was dead. The poachers had tied his body, naked, to a tree and beat him, perhaps with a rifle.
From the Forest: The Kutai Orangutan Project
05-10-11 - Orangutan Conservancy
From the Forest is a new feature on the Orangutan Conservancy website written by those on the front lines of orangutan conservation and research. This inaugural column is written by Dr. Anne Russon of the Kutai Orangutan Project. Kutai is one of the research projects that OC helps to support. Project Background The Kutai Orangutan project was established in 2009, with Kutai National Park (“KNP”) authorities, to improve the knowledge and protection of its orangutans. Effective protection requires understanding their habits and needs. These orangutans are not currently well known, appreciated, or protected. This project was therefore designed around a long-term study of their behavior and habitat usage. |
Uganda: mountain gorillas and Batwa pygmies in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
29-09-11- The Telegraph
Makara the silverback was clearly having a bad day. As soon as he saw us, he rushed forwards with a piercing scream, waving his fist in the air. Our guide somehow stood his ground and raised his comparatively pathetic fist in response, visibly scared as the hefty alpha male stopped in his tracks a couple of paces away. He glared at us, then begrudgingly retreated behind a tree. That did not bode well for our brief yet precious time with him. It had been a hard slog, tracking the Habinyanja group of habituated mountain gorillas through Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, an apt moniker for the densest rainforest I have seen. Our briefing on gorilla etiquette included instructions to keep a 20ft distance between us and the primates, an instruction of which Makara was obviously unaware. |
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An audience with Koko the 'talking' gorilla
17-09-11 - The Telegraph
My location is a closely guarded secret: a ranch somewhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains, several miles outside the small California town of Woodside. And for good reason, for its resident is something of a celebrity. She lives here with a male friend and both value their privacy, so much so that I’m asked to keep absolutely silent as I walk the single-track dirt path that winds through a grove of towering redwoods up to a little Portakabin. Inside, I’m asked to put on a thin medical mask to cover my nose and mouth and a pair of latex gloves. Then my guide, Lorraine, tells me to follow another dirt trail to a different outbuilding. This one has a small wooden porch attached and it’s here that I sit on a plastic chair and look up at an open door, separated from the outside world by a wire fence that stretches the length and width of the frame. And there she is: Koko. |
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Mountain Gorillas: the rules of engagement
12-09-11 - BBC Earth
Mountain gorillas are endangered, with only 786 of them left in the world. Visiting them can be an incredible experience, as Steve Backshall discovered when he travelled to the forests of Uganda.
Gorillas are one of our closest relatives. They may be powerful, but they are also intelligent and shy. If—like Steve—you visit mountain gorillas, respect is key.
- Small groups
- Stay quiet
- Gorillas and humans share 98 percent of their genes
- Keep clean
- Keep your distance
- Listen to the guides
Chester Zoo team to build orangutan bridges in Borneo
22-08-2011 - BBC Nature
A team from Chester Zoo will join conservationists in Malaysian Borneo later this year to help construct special "orangutan bridges". The structures are designed to allow the animals to move around in an area that has become fragmented by deforestation. They will incorporate materials the zoo uses in its orangutan enclosure. Marc Ancrenaz, co-founder of the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project, is leading the venture. Chester Zoo's Nick Davis explained: "When Marc came to the zoo, he noticed that we had this webbing material that we used for our enclosure Dr Davis, who will take part in the Borneo expedition said that, for orangutans, "we're limited in the materials we can use, because they destroy everything". |
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Congo-Kinshasa: six gorillas repatriated
18-08-2011 - Allafrica
Goma — Six eastern lowland gorillas have been repatriated from Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN).
The gorillas - five females and one male - have been kept at the Kinigi cultural centre in Rwanda since January 2004, after being rescued from poachers by Rwandan authorities. There was joy and satisfaction on the faces of various partners who contributed to the success of this repatriation project.
"These gorillas were rescued from a fast-growing trafficking network in the DRC. The large primates were passing through Rwanda to other countries. Given that Rwanda was the exit route for this illicit trade, the authorities had to move swiftly to arrest the poachers and seize the animals", confirms ICCN veterinarian, Dr Arthur Kalonji.
