The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=624&u=/ap/20030929/ap_on_sc/threatened_orangutans&printer=1

Orangutans Could Go Extinct in 20 Years 

WASHINGTON - Habitat destruction by illegal loggers could mean the extinction 
of
orangutans within 10 to 20 years, a Harvard researcher studying the apes said 
Monday. 

Logging has been increasing in recent years, moving away from the river edges 
into the
interior of the forests where the orangutans live, Cheryl Knott said in a 
telephone
interview. 

Knott studies orangutans in Indonesia's Gunung Palung National Park, home to 
about 2,500
of the animals, about one-tenth of those in the world. Orangutans live only 
in Indonesia
and Malaysia, said Knott, whose work is sponsored by the National Geographic 
(news - web
sites) Society. 

While the government of Indonesia has a commitment to protect orangutans, 
sending in
national police periodically, the loggers return when the police leave, she 
said. 

Knott said she hopes to raise awareness internationally "that we really do 
have a crisis
here.... We could wake up in 20 years and they would be extinct." 

Orangutans, like other great apes, are close relatives to humans. Researchers 
have
learned a lot about them in recent years. 

Knott said one colony was observed to use primitive tools, a skill passed on 
to their
offspring. And she said the group she studies makes unique sounds under some
circumstances. 

Orangutans are almost totally arboreal, living in the trees, traveling 
through the trees
and eating fruit from the trees, she said. 

She said several hundred trees have been removed in her study area. Loggers 
cut them into
manageable logs with chain saws, drag those logs to a nearby river and float 
them to
market.