The orangutan is the most highly endangered species of great ape.
Orangutans are threatened by deforestation, poaching, the illegal pet
trade, and the isolation and fragmen- tation of dwindling wild
populations. Their conservation is impeded by certain aspects of their
ecology (e. g., a rain forest habitat) and certain features of their
life history (e. g., an eight-to twelve-year interbirth interval). Added
to the U. S. Endangered Species List in 1970, the orangutan is now
clearly on the road to extinction. The number of wild orangutans in
Borneo and Sumatra is currently estimated to have decreased to between
12,300 and 20,571 individuals. Only 2% of original orangutan habitat is
protected and some of these areas are now being destroyed. Clearly,
attention to ecology, demography, censusing, rehabilitation, and
conservation is essential if the orangutan is to survive in the wild
beyond the next century. The protection of orangutans is a complex,
multifaceted problem, involving such pressing issues as human poverty,
overpopulation, and the economic development of Southeast Asia. Although
the orangutan has been placed in Appendix I of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), more orangutans were sold illegally in Taiwan between 1990 and
1993 than are housed in all the world's zoos. In the past, scientific
and public attention has centered on the African apes. For this reason,
the sole Asian great ape, the orangutan, has been called the "neglected
ape.
