Kuching,Malaysia:
Reports saying that Orang Utan needed human’s help to keep them from extinction, is not far from the truth.
While there are only a few of them in the state of Sarawak, a sizeable population lived in the Kinabatangan Basin in Sabah. Sabah and Sarawak are the two Malaysian States on the Island of Borneo. The average size of the two states are only about 25% of the Island. The rest belonged to Kalimantan, which is a province of Indonesia.
Also, in terms of Orang Utan population only 25 % of them are in Sabah and Sarawak. The rest are in Kalimantan.
The problem in ensuring the survival of this species lies in the fact that they inhabited areas outside Kalimantan’s Protected area. Areas outside this protected zone meant they are inhabited by ‘slash and burn’ settlers and some are meant to develop into oil palm plantation.They are also isolated from their cousins in Sabah and Sarawak.
This fact was found in the recently published Scientific journal,Oryx.. The article entitled; Distribution And Conservation Status Of The Orang Utan On Borneo And Sumatra; How Many Remain? was written by a panel consisiting of Coservationists,Scientists and NGO’s.
Even on the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, groups of approximately 250 Orang Utans are separaed from each other.
Studies of Genetic Modelling by Conservation Geneticists Dr Benoit Goosen of Cardiff University and Dr Isabel Lachman–Ancrenaz of Hutan had shown that great numbers of isolated Orang Utan would be extinct in about 50 years if nothing is done to help them.
One of the steps recommended is to create corridors that would link the isolated groups of Orang Utans. The proposed corridors would allow these Orang Utans and other wildlife to move around and integrate freely.