What  happens  to  orangutans  when  the  

forest  is  taken  away  from  them?      By  Ian  Singleton,  Ph.D  Director  of  Conservation    PanEco  Foundation  –  Sumatran  Orangutan  Conservation  Programme  (SOCP)        Most  people  are  well  aware  that  Asia’s  tropical  rainforests,  particularly  in  Indonesia,  are  fast  disappearing.  For  people  who  have  only  ever  seen  orangutans  in  zoos,  or  maybe  in  the  forest  during  visits  to  Sumatra  or  Borneo,  it  might  be  hard  to  imagine  what  happens  to  orangutans  when  their  habitat  is  destroyed.  We  at  the  SOCP  are  often  asked  to  explain  how  forest  fragmentation  and  conversion  affects  wild  orangutans,  and  how  they  end  up  in  the  SOCP’s  orangutan  quarantine  centre.  This  document  is  our  attempt  to  explain  what  we  see  in  the  field.      Two  separate  species    The  Sumatran  orangutan  (Pongo  abelii)  is  a  separate  species  to  its  Bornean  counterpart  (Pongo  pygmaeus).  Despite  looking  very  similar  in  appearance,  at  least  to  the  untrained  eye,  there  are  a  number  of  behavioural  and  ecological  differences  between  them.  For  example,  Bornean  orangutans  are  more  often  known  to  travel  along  the  ground,  eat  more  leaves  and  tree  bark  (cambium)  generally  than  Sumatran  orangutans,  and  fewer  insects  like  termites  and  ants,  of  which  Sumatran  orangutans  are  particularly  fond.  Sumatran  orangutans  are  also  known  to  catch  and  eat  meat,  in  the  form  of  the  small  nocturnal  primate  known  as  the  slow  loris  (Nycticebus  coucang).  This  has  been  seen  many  times  now  in  Sumatra,  but  to  date  has  never  been  observed  in  Borneo.  Bornean  orangutans  tend  to  exist  at  lower  densities  too,  reflecting  poorer,  much  older  soils  in  Borneo  and  a  corresponding  lower  productivity  of  the  forests  there.  This  also  means  that  

the  females  are  much  fewer  in  a  given  area  in  Borneo,  and  far  more  spread  out,  meaning  the  adult  males  find  it  difficult  to  maintain  exclusive  access  to  them,  leading  to  more  conflicts  between  males,  and  more  frequent  changes  in  the  dominant  male  of  an  area.      Nevertheless,  orangutans  on  both  islands  have  solitary  tendencies,  especially  in  areas  where  food  is  scarce,  but  also  have  a  propensity  for  gregariousness,  when  food  is  abundant.    

 Figure 1: Healthy mother and infant Sumatran orangutan in nest in healthy forest. Photo Peter Jaeggi.    Daily  routine    Unlike  gorillas,  who  eat  a  large  amount  of  highly  abundant  herbaceous  vegetation,  orangutans,  like  chimpanzees,  are  predominantly  frugivores  (around  60%  of  their  diet  is  fruits)  and  their  food  supply  in  the  forest  is  highly  patchy.  A  typical  day  for  a  Sumatran  orangutan  is  to  wake  up  just  after  6am,  when  the  sun  rises,  and  spend  about  3  hours  in  a  nearby  fruit  tree,  eating  most  of  the  ripe  fruit  it  contains.  They  then  start  to  travel,  grabbing  foods  such  as  stems,  insects  and  other  fruits,  e.g.  of  lianas,  as  they  pass  by,  before  finding  a  suitable  tree  around  midday  in  which  to  build  a  day  nest,  for  a  siesta.  After  about  an  hour  or  so  rest,  they  then  travel  some  more,  grabbing  more  tidbits  on  the  way,  and  tend  to  find  another  major  fruit  patch  in  which  to  gorge  themselves  again  before  making  another,  more  sturdy  nest  for  the  night  in  a  suitable  tree  nearby,  sometime  in  the  late  afternoon.        

 Given  their  food  is  so  patchy,  and  that  they  like  to  eat  as  much  of  each  tree  fruit  crop  themselves,  it  is  often  not  in  their  interest  to  bring  along  any  friends.  Each  additional  orangutan  that  does  tag  along  means  having  to  visit  more  of  the  scattered  fruit  trees,  and  hence  travelling  farther  to  obtain  sufficient  food,  adding  an  unwelcome  extra  burden  on  their  energy  budget.  This  is  in  contrast  to  gorillas,  whose  varied  assortments  of  food  items  are  generally  abundant  around  them.  For  them,  as  there  is  ample  food  for  everyone  in  even  a  large  group,  it  doesn't  really  matter  how  many  gorillas  come  along  as  there  is  still  always  plenty  to  go  round.  For  orangutans,  however  much  they  like  to  hang  out  with  other  orangutans,  they  normally  simply  just  cannot  afford  it,  unless  there  is  an  unusual  abundance  of  fruit  in  the  area,  as  it  means  they  have  to  travel  much  too  far  between  food  patches  to  get  enough  for  their  daily  needs.        Home  ranges    Despite  their  solitary  tendencies,  orangutans  have  highly  overlapping  home  ranges.  They  are  not  like  gibbons  that  maintain  and  defend  a  territory  from  any  other  gibbons  that  might  try  to  enter  it.  Orangutans  don’t  defend  their  home  range  area  and  are  normally  very  tolerant  of  other  orangutans  using  or  passing  through  it.  In  fact,  in  one  study  in  the  peat  swamps  of  Sumatra  it  was  possible  to  pick  a  single  location  within  the  forest  and  potentially  find  as  many  as  16  adult  females,  and  many  additional  males,  that  would  pass  through  that  spot  at  least  occasionally.    Orangutan  home  ranges  are  also  extremely  large,  ranging  from  circa  500  ha  or  so  for  an  adult  female  in  some  forests,  up  to  as  much  as  1,500  ha  or  so  in  the  peat  swamps  of  Sumatra,  where  the  highest  densities  of  orangutans  in  the  world  (as  high  as  8  individuals  per  km2)  are  also  found.  Adult  male  home  ranges  are  larger  still,  and  may  even  be  several  1,000  ha  in  extent.  But  no  matter  how  large  their  home  ranges  are,  they  are  still  smaller  than  most  industrial  oil  palm  plantations.      So  what  happens  when  an  oil  palm  plantation  is  established  in  orangutan  habitat?    Plantations  have  to  clear  the  forest  first,  unless  of  course  they  are  being  established  on  non-­‐forested  land,  but  sadly  there  are  extremely  few  of  those  (in  fact  they  are  much  rarer  than  orangutans).  This  is  frequently  done  using  heavy  machinery  (bulldozers  and  excavators)  with  some  manual  help  from  a  few  temporary  local  labourers,  hired  specially  for  the  task.  Naturally,  when  the  forest  is  completely  cleared,  all  the  wildlife,  including  orangutans,  disappears  too  (see  figure  4).    Any  orangutans  resident  in  the  area  will  either  move,  or  stay  and  starve  to  death  since  their  food  source  has  gone.  Males  tend  to  be  slightly  more  mobile  than  females,  and  therefore  may  be  a  little  better  able  to  cope  with  large  shifts  in  their  ranging  areas  (assuming  there  is  some  good  quality  forest  remaining  nearby).    

Females  tend  to  be  much  more  sedentary,  and  don’t  readily  move  and  settle  in  new  areas.  They  are  far  more  likely  to  try  and  stay  in  their  home  range  area,  even  if  it  is  severely  damaged,  and  risk  being  killed  by  plantation  workers  (which  is  how  most  illegal  pet  infant  orangutans  are  obtained),  or  malnutrition  and  eventual  starvation  (see  figure  5).  

 Figure 2: Orangutan at edge of mixed rubber plantation area in Aceh Tamiang, Sumatra, during clearance and conversion to palm oil.

 Figure 3: Orangutan (top right, in tree) at edge of forest being cleared for palm oil in Kalimantan. Photo Tine Geurts.

 Figure 4: Prior to planting, soils in new plantation areas are normally barren. Virtually none of the original wildlife living in such areas survives the transition from forest to plantation.    The  next  stage  is  to  burn  off  all  the  scrub  and  debris  that  is  left  behind  from  the  logging,  even  though  this  is  actually  illegal  under  Indonesian  National  Law.  Naturally  this  creates  a  lot  of  smoke.  Sometimes  these  fires  burn  out  of  control,  especially  in  peatlands,  where  they  may  even  burn  on  for  several  years.    Orangutans  near  the  fires  for  sure  will  inhale  smoke,  until  they  are  able  to  get  far  enough  away  from  the  fires  to  breathe  smoke  free  air.  If  this  goes  on  for  a  long  time  they  may  suffer  serious  respiratory  problems  as  a  result.      Do  any  survive?    In  some  cases,  orangutans  become  trapped  during  the  forest  clearing  process.  Forest  conversion  seldom  follows  a  neat  and  tidy  pattern,  starting  at  one  side  and  finishing  at  the  other.  If  it  did,  some  of  the  larger  mammals  in  those  areas  (such  as  deer  and  pigs  etc.)  and  birds  might  have  a  chance  to  flee  into  any  remaining  forested  areas  nearby,  especially  if  those  forested  areas  are  already  part  of  their  normal  range  or  territory.  Instead,  however,  forest  clearance  is  often  poorly  planned,  erratic  and  highly  random,  resulting  in  small  patches  of  forest  left  standing  for  a  time,  sometimes  of  just  a  few  individual  trees,  being  completely  cut-­‐off  and  surrounded  by  treeless  terrain,  or  land  still  ablaze.      

 Figure 5: Females in particular do not readily shift their home range, and instead remain in their original area, eventually succumbing to malnutrition and death. This particular adult female Bornean orangutan (Sumi) sadly died not long after this photo was taken. Photo Tine Geurts      

 Figure 6: Illegal forest fires set by palm oil companies in the Tripa swamps, Aceh Province in March 2012. Photo Carlos Quiles  

 Figure 7: Often vast swathes of forest are burned at the same time, causing respiratory problems for both people and any wildlife that survives the immediate fire. Photo Carlos Quiles.      When  orangutans  and  other  wildlife  get  trapped  in  such  fragments,  these  are  the  ones  that  end  up  being  killed  directly,  either  by  people  working  on  the  forest  clearance,  for  fun  (target  practice),  or  to  capture  animals  for  trade  (profit),  or  end  up  getting  burned  to  death  or  killed  some  other  way.  Some  of  these  orangutans,  especially  infants,  are  lucky  enough  to  survive  this  process,  but  in  virtually  every  instance  their  mother  is  killed  before  they  are  taken  from  the  site.  It  is  just  such  infants  that  end  up  being  kept  as  illegal  pets  or  being  traded.  Ironically,  these  illegal  captives  could  be  considered  the  “lucky”  ones,  even  though  they  are  the  only  surviving  refugees  from  forests  that  no  longer  exist.  The  vast  majority  are  not  so  lucky;  they  are  killed  in  the  forest  clearing  process  and  don’t  ever  make  it  this  far.    Those  that  are  able  to  flee  and  move  to  other  parts  of  their  home  range  may  have  a  chance  to  survive  the  destruction,  depending  on  where  their  home  range  is  located  relative  to  present  and  future  forest  clearance.  Their  survival  of  the  current  phase  of  destruction  may  be  only  temporary,  as  plantations  continue  to  expand  and  new  ones  are  granted.  Furthermore,  whilst  their  home  ranges  are  large,  they  are  also  finite.  As  their  food  resources  are  lost,  due  to  loss  of  the  forest’s  fruit  trees  and  other  vegetation,  orangutans  crowding  into  ever  smaller  areas  are  by  necessity  forced  to  compete  more  and  more  for  continuously  decreasing  resources.      

 Figure 8: A few “lucky individuals may survive the forest conversion and end up as illegal pets, often in insanitary conditions. The mothers of any captured infants are always killed during the capture. This photo shows staff of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme cleaning up an infant during confiscation. Photo SOCP.

 Figure 9: Even some larger animals are captured on occasions, often sustaining injuries in the process, sometimes quite horrific. This orangutan originated from the Tripa peat swamp forests in Aceh province, Sumatra and eventually had to have his left arm amputated due to irreparably damaged nerves. Photo SOCP

Orangutan  home  ranges  are  large  for  a  reason.  The  home  range  is  the  area  of  forest  an  individual  needs  to  survive  and  reproduce  in  the  long  term.  In  the  short  term  they  may  be  able  to  survive  in  a  much  smaller  area,  depending  on  fruit  abundance,  how  many  other  orangutans  are  already  there,  and  other  factors,  but  in  the  long  run  they  have  lost  some  of  their  food  resources  and  will  find  it  harder  to  find  enough  to  sustain  them  as  a  result.  As  the  overall  forest  area  is  also  reduced,  the  orangutans  are  forced  to  crowd  together  more,  and  therefore  must  compete  with  each  other  for  food  and  other  resources.  This  is  what  happens  when  a  forest  is  above  its  so-­‐called  “carrying  capacity”  for  orangutans,  meaning  that  the  number  of  individuals  it  contains  is  more  than  the  forest  can  actually  support.  This  places  a  huge  level  of  stress  on  a  population  and  some  casualties  are  inevitable,  due  to  long-­‐term  starvation  and  malnutrition.  If  left  alone,  the  forest  conversion  stops  and  does  not  continue  any  further,  some  of  the  orangutans  surviving  in  the  now  more  compacted  population  will  still  almost  certainly  die  over  the  next  few  years,  even  if  not  immediately,  and  the  population  will  gradually  decrease  until  equilibrium  is  once  again  reached  at  the  level  of  the  remaining  forests  new  carrying  capacity.    But  if  the  forest  conversion  continues,  eventually  all  of  the  forest  will  be  gone,  and  all  of  the  orangutans  and  other  species  will  no  longer  be  able  to  live  there.  Every  one  of  them  will  die,  except  for  a  few  lucky  survivors  that  are  captured  and  kept  as  pets,  or  are  rescued  by  NGO’s  and  taken  to  safety,  either  being  quickly  released  elsewhere  or  entering  a  medical  facility  for  treatment  before  eventual  return  to  the  wild  at  a  later  date.  Assuming  these  animals  are  physically  and  mentally  healthy  enough  to  be  returned  to  the  wild,  their  genes  (DNA)  can  still  contribute  to  the  conservation  of  the  species  in  the  future.  But  all  those  that  are  lost  in  the  devastation  make  no  further  contribution  at  all.    

 Figure 10: The unlucky orangutans do not survive the process. Photo BOSF.

 

 Figure 11: This adult male Bornean orangutan was reportedly burned alive deliberately by palm oil concession workers in Kalimantan, who first doused him with petrol before setting him alight. Photo BOSF  

 Figure 12: This orangutan was found by the Centre for Orangutan Protection after being killed and buried by plantation workers, in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crime. Photo COP.        

   Please  help  us!  The  Sumatran  Orangutan  Conservation  Programme    (PanEco  and  Yayasan  Ekosistem  Lestari)  and  a  coalition  of  other  NGO’s  are  currently  fighting  a  last  ditch  battle  to  save  the  remaining  Sumatran  orangutans  and  forests  of  the  Tripa  peat  swamps,  on  the  West  coast  of  Aceh  Province,  Indonesia.    These  forests  probably  contained  up  to  as  many  as  3,000  orangutans  in  1990,  but  today  only  around  200  are  thought  to  remain.  It  is  also  considered  that  as  many  as  100  perished  in  the  12  months  prior  to  April  2012,  due  to  rapid  forest  clearance  and  fires,  especially  in  March  this  year.      Tripa’s  forests  are  being  converted  by  just  a  handful  of  companies,  owned  by  a  relatively  few  extremely  wealthy  people,  for  large-­‐scale  oil  palm  plantations.  The  legality  of  the  concession  of  one  of  the  companies,  PT  Kallista  Alam,  is  being  contested  in  a  high  profile  legal  case  since  it  contravenes  National  Spatial  Planning  Laws.  This  company  and  the  others  in  Tripa  are  also  being  challenged  for  illegal  clearance  and  illegal  burning  within  their  concessions,  which  continues  even  now,  and  for  the  illegal  establishment  of  huge  drainage  canals  that  drain  this  unique  wetland  ecosystem  of  its  principal  life  force.      To  stop  these  crimes,  the  SOCP  and  its  partners  have  been  working  hard  on  media  campaigns  and  publicity  to  push  the  authorities  to  enforce  Indonesia’s  National  Laws.  Thanks  to  the  support  of  thousands  of  people  around  the  world,  we  are  now  at  last  starting  to  see  real  progress,  but  there  is  a  still  a  long  way  to  go.  Naturally,  all  these  efforts  cost  money,  and  we  are  already  even  spending  money  that  we  don’t  currently  have.  We  therefore  urgently  need  to  raise  considerable  funds  to  continue  the  fight,  to  keep  collecting  evidence,  developing  the  legal  cases,  lobbying  officials  and  for  preparing  media  materials.    If  you,  your  family,  friends  or  colleagues  are  in  a  position  to  help  financially,  please  do  not  hesitate  to  visit  www.sumatranorangutan.org  and  donate  to  the  Paypal  account.      Alternatively,  feel  free  to  contact  myself  directly  at  mokko123@gmail.com  if  you  are  interested  in  other  methods  of  making  a  donation.