While they are tenaciously resourceful, orangutan population is in decline due to the devastation of their habitats. Estimates put their population at 57, - , Bornean, less than 14, Sumatran and fewer than Tapanuli orangutans. They face a multitude of threats, with the biggest causes being deforestation, illegal hunting for meat and the pet-trade. There are so many causes for deforestation in the area, including logging, palm oil production, mining and agricultural expansion, and the scale of it is devastating.
However, the destruction of their habitats is not solely due to human activities. Due to climate change, forest fires are becoming more frequent and devastate the orangutan population.
For example, the forest fires in Kalimantan, killed up to 8, orangutans. While there are designated protected areas for orangutans, this is proving ineffective. Orangutans find their food in the trees where they live. More than half their diet consists of fruit. They also eat nuts, bark, and other parts of plants and trees. Every once in a while they eat insects such as ants and termites , as well as bird eggs. Orangutans find the water they need for drinking up in the trees—in hollows, on leaves, or even on their own fur after a rain.
Trees are essential to every aspect of the orangutans' world. The cutting down of trees—deforestation—has landed this species on the endangered species list. Some adult male orangutans develop flaps of fatty tissue on both sides of their face - known as flanges - which develop when they're fully mature, at around 35 years old.
An orangutan makes its nest in around 10 minutes, by pulling several large branches together, using smaller branches for a mattress and binding the structure together by weaving in more supple branches. In wet weather, they sometimes add a roof. As orangutans make a new nest to sleep in every night, we actually use their nests to estimate their population size in any given area. As you might have seen in Our Planet, some Sumatran orangutans use tools - like sticks to get termites, ants or bees out of tree holes.
These clever creatures have also been observed making a 'glove' out of leaves when handling prickly fruits or thorny branches. A huge spiky fruit called durian are the favourite fruit of orangutans — it's best known for its stench, which has been likened to sewage, rotting flesh and smelly socks. It's estimated that over , Bornean orangutans were lost between and The main threat is the loss or fragmentation of their forest habitat, caused by logging for timber materials, forest fires and making way for oil palm plantations.
Oil palm trees produce palm oil - an edible vegetable oil - which is used in many products, from toothpaste to pizza. Cutting down pristine rainforest to make more palm oil is incredibly unsustainable and releases lots of carbon into the atmosphere. But the good news is that we can produce palm oil sustainably - protecting species like the orangutan - if we ensure that it is deforestation free.
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