Oran­gutan Protection 

A distinc­tion is made between the Bornean oran­gutan (latin:Pongo Pygmaeus), the Suma­tran oran­gutan (Latin:Pongo Abelii) and the Tapa­nuli oran­gutan (Latin: Pongo Tapa­nu­li­ensis). The Bornean oran­gutan lives on the island of Borneo in the Malay Archi­pe­lago.
In Borneo, the species is divided into three gene­ti­cally distinct subspe­cies: Pongo Pygmaeus Morio in East Kali­mantan, Indo­nesia and Sabah, Malaysia; Pongo Pygmaeus in West Kali­mantan, Indo­nesia and Sarawak, Malaysia; and Pongo Pygmaeus Wurmbii in Central and West Kali­mantan, Indo­nesia. While the oran­gutan was once wide­spread on the island, the species’ range is now limited and frag­mented into an esti­mated 42 popu­la­tions.
Their range is natu­rally limited by alti­tude, as oran­gutans gene­rally live below 500 m above sea level. Today’s popu­la­tion frag­men­ta­tion of oran­gutans is not due to normal eleva­tion limi­ta­tions, but rather to the impact actions of humans have had. Humans have encroa­ched on many of the orangutan’s natural habi­tats, comple­tely defo­res­ting or destroying the habi­tats, which also affects the overall health of the ecosys­tems.
Oran­gutans are found in a variety of habi­tats, from brackish mangrove forests to lime­s­tone forests, but they most commonly live in what are known as tropical lowland forests. However, this term encom­passes a variety of diffe­rent forest types, of which the two most important for oran­gutans are dry Dipte­ro­car­paceae forests and swamp forests.
Dipte­ro­car­paceae forests are what most people imagine when they think of the “jungles of Borneo.” The predo­mi­nant tree species in the forests are from the Dipte­ro­car­paceae family (winged fruit family). This large tree family also includes giant trees such as Meranti and Kapur. While winged fruit plants form the heart of the ecosystem — and are an inte­gral part of the orangutan’s diet — the forests are also full of other species, inclu­ding iron­wood trees, fruit trees, carni­vorous plants, count­less beetles, fish, birds and thou­sands of other animal species, from clouded leopards and pythons to shy pango­lins and pit vipers.
Borneo’s oran­gutans may also live in swamp and peat swamp forests. Although these peat swamp forests are not as species-rich as Dipte­ro­car­paceae forests, they are still an important habitat for the Bornean oran­gutan. Peat swamp forests are home to count­less specific endan­gered plant and animal species and play a key role in the global carbon and hydro­logic cycles.
Every oran­gutan forest is teeming with crea­tures that may not be as “charis­matic” as oran­gutans, but are just as important to our global ecosystem. That’s why we need to protect oran­gutans, their neigh­bors, and their natural habitat. Because oran­gutan protec­tion means rain­fo­rest protec­tion and equals climate protection.

Oran­gutans spend up to 60% of their time awake sear­ching for and eating food. Depen­ding on the season and loca­tion, this can be an easy or more diffi­cult task. About ten percent of their day is spent wande­ring through the jungle, often in search of new food sources. The remai­ning 30% of their time is spent in a variety of acti­vi­ties, from resting and clea­ning to playing and other social activities.

Oran­gutans are considered omni­vores, meaning they eat both plant and animal foods, but the majo­rity of their diet consists of plants. Oran­gutans have an extre­mely broad diet. More than 2,000 diffe­rent plant species are part of their diet. Fruits are their favo­rite, but they also eat leaf shoots, leaves, bark, flowers, mush­rooms, the pith of bran­ches, insects, honey, and occa­sio­nally eggs. There are rare reports of oran­gutans even eating small mammals.

Yes, the most dange­rous one is the human! Other preda­tors that can be dange­rous to them are the clouded leopard, Suma­tran tiger, croco­diles and snakes.

First, because we are destroying its home, the rain­fo­rest! Second, they repro­duce very slowly, because in the wild a female usually gives birth to a baby only every eight years. Third, people hunt oran­gutans to capture young animals for the illegal wild­life trade.

Avoid non-sustain­ably certi­fied palm oil. Pay atten­tion to the ingre­dient list when buying food. Palm oil or palm fat is found in many super­market products: in ready meals, sweets, marga­rine, bread spreads, candles, cosme­tics, clea­ning products and deter­gents. Around 85% of palm oil comes from Indo­nesia and Malaysia. Also approach your local retailers and manu­fac­tu­rers about buying only products from certi­fied palm oil culti­va­tion. The demand still deter­mines the supply.
Most palm oil imported into the EU ends up in biodiesel. So not driving helps the oran­gutans, too.
Use only recy­cled paper. Only buy colo­ring books, exer­cise books, toilet paper and other paper products made from 100% recy­cled paper (reco­gnizable by the “Blue Angel” seal). Because no rain­fo­rest has to be cleared for it.
Do not buy tropical wood. When buying furni­ture, picture frames and other products made of wood always ask where the wood comes from. If the annual rings are missing, it may be tropical wood.

Rescued oran­gutans are handed over by the Indo­ne­sian Nature Conser­va­tion Autho­rity (BKSDA) to orga­niza­tions such as Borneo Oran­gutan Survival Foun­da­tion or Inter­na­tional Animal Rescue, which then take over the reha­bi­li­ta­tion process for the rescued animals.

The oran­gutan is protected under Indo­ne­sian law, and the Indo­ne­sian state is respon­sible for enfor­cing this law. Other important parties are the Indo­ne­sian Nature Conser­va­tion Autho­rity (BKSDA), non-govern­mental oran­gutan conser­va­tion orga­niza­tions and all supporters around the world who make the rescue, reha­bi­li­ta­tion, rein­tro­duc­tion and moni­to­ring work possible with their donations.

BOS releases oran­gutans into safe sanc­tua­ries and national parks. Each oran­gutan is implanted with a trans­ponder prior to release, which can be used to track them during their first few months in the rain­fo­rest. Our post-moni­to­ring teams are constantly touring the rein­tro­duc­tion areas and moni­to­ring the “New Wild Ones”. However, it some­times happens that animals leave the rein­tro­duc­tion forests and thus the protected rain­fo­rest areas. BOS conducts educa­tion campaigns among the local popu­la­tion to raise aware­ness about the importance and protected status of oran­gutans. In addi­tion, we provide some options for action when conflicts arise between oran­gutans and humans — for example, because in search of food, the animals enter areas managed by humans. Some­times our teams have to work with the Indo­ne­sian Nature Conser­va­tion Autho­rity (BKSDA) to relo­cate oran­gutans in order to mini­mize such conflicts (mainly invol­ving animals not released by us).

That is the main goal of our work. However, it is not an easy task. Female oran­gutans can only become pregnant about every eight years. Ther­e­fore, it is essen­tial that no animals are killed and that the wild animals retain their habitat.