Why Borneo's Orangutans receive more attention than Sumatrans?
- Thread starter Potto
- Start date
I had no idea that there was a war in Sumatra. Thanks!
I am just basing it on how I perceive it. To me, there seems to be more funds and conservation projects aimed at saving Orangutans in Borneo (Sabah, Kalimantan, etc.) than the ones in Sumatra. Sumatran Orangutans are much more isolated and endangered than the ones on Borneo and it just seems a little surprising that there is such a huge population difference between the Orangs on Borneo compared to the ones on Sumatra (25,000 on Borneo as opposed to 7,000 on Sumatra). It's just simply the way that I perceive it.
Mr T
Well-Known Member
Sumatrans are more isolated and fewer in number than the Borneans but that doesn't mean more endangered. The 7,000 may be better protected, and the civil war may actually have benefited the orangs (in a similar way to the mountain gorillas in Rwanda). The Bornean orangs are losing habitat at an extremely rapid rate for palm oil plantations and I don't think there is as big an issue of deforestation in Sumatra. The war way also have helped with this as companies wont want to be working in war zones.
In terms of the fact of attention from what I have seen in the UK Zoos seem to focus education and outreach projects on both despite the Borneans being more common in zoos that Sumatrans.
In terms of the fact of attention from what I have seen in the UK Zoos seem to focus education and outreach projects on both despite the Borneans being more common in zoos that Sumatrans.
Its only in the UK that Borneans outnumber Sumatrans so heavily- with only Chester and Jersey keeping & breeding Sumatrans nowadays- though Monkeyworld have also recently got one small male from a zoo in Spain.
Elsewhere- in the USA and Europe, the two species are roughly equal in numbers in the Zoo populations.
And here there are either only Sumatrans or hybrids (although if you include the region Auckland has Borneans and there are also not as many orangs in Australia than other continents)
Personally I cant say that Bornean orangs receive more conservation dollars (I genuinely don't know) however if they do,it wouldn't be such a bad thing.
It actually makes sense to give more attention to conserving the larger population of a given species (in this case genus), than to pour funds into a smaller one whilst the larger, deprived of adequate protection, is consigned to the same fate.
Because the rate of destruction of the Sumatran rainforests is much faster than rainforests in Borneo. Much of the heart of Borneo is still intact forests whereas Sumatra's remaining forests are fragmented.
Pootle
Well-Known Member
And it is this fragmentation of habitat that causes populations to become isolated which in turn causes breeding problems, individuals refuse to breed, inbreeding depression etc. Also disease can spread faster and wipe out an isolated population very quickly.
Fragmentation is one of the major causes of species extinction.