Study finds deforestation has pushed orangutans to brink of extinction

Study finds deforestation has pushed orangutans to brink of extinction
Genetic evidence shows colonialists pushed orang-utans to brink of extinction

Cardiff University release
January 24, 2006

A three year genetic study by wildlife geneticists from Cardiff School of Biosciences has shown a population collapse in the Bornean orang-utan.

The population has declined up to one hundred fold since the late 19th Century, coinciding with the arrival of colonial powers on the island of Borneo and accelerated timber extraction. The research is among the first to link species decline with colonial deforestation, as opposed to when humans first appeared in the region.

“This is the first time that an alarming and recent human related decline of a great ape population has been demonstrated using genetic data,” said Dr Benoît Goossens, Cardiff School of Biosciences.

“The research used a new, innovative analysis that meant we could distinguish between population decline that happened thousands of years ago and much more recently”.

Orangutan in Sumatra. Orangutans are highly threatened by the illegal trade in endangered species. WWF estimates that of the remaining 30,000-40,000 orangutans left in the wild, more than 1,000 are poached every year as pets or sources of bushmeat. Related articles 1,000 wild orang-utans poached a year says WWF The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a leading conservation group, estimates that 1,000 orang-utans are poached annually from the wild, often for sale as pets for the wealthy. The organization says there are some 30,000 to 40,000 orang-utans left in the wild. China funds massive palm oil plantation in rainforest of Borneo Plans to create the world’s largest palm oil plantation along Indonesia’s mountainous border with Malaysia could have a devastating impact on the forests, wildlife and indigenous people of Borneo, warns World Wildlife Fund.

The team of researchers sampled the faeces from two hundred orang-utans in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, northern Borneo and DNA profiling was used to discover the most likely history of the population that would give rise to their genetic profiles.

“It is clear that the remaining population of Orang-utans in Sabah is a very small fraction of what originally existed, and more importantly, if the decline continues at the same speed, the population will be extinct within a few decades,” said Dr Goossens.

Normally the genetic effects of recent events such as colonial deforestation would be obscured by ancient demographic events. However, humans have so devastated orang-utan populations that the genetic signature of the recent bottleneck may have overshadowed any previous population fluctuations.

“The results of the study underscores the need to act now to protect the long term survival of the species. The animals still possess enough genetic diversity to stabilise if immediate action is taken to halt further decline”, said Professor Michael Bruford, Cardiff School of Biosciences, who led the study.

The Cardiff University team is working with its partners in Sabah and the local government to set up an effective conservation programme that will identify mechanisms for local and regional economic development that includes the protection of orang-utan habitat.

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The groundbreaking findings are published in the top ranking international biology journal, PLoS Biology.

The study was carried out by Cardiff School of Biosciences, together with the Sabah Wildlife Department, the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project and the Univesiti Malaysia, Sabah. The research was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair’s Darwin Initiative.

This is a modified news release from Cardiff University.