ENDANGERED ORANGUTAN

Endangered Orangutan - Once widespread in Asian tropical forests, orangutans now live only on Sumatra and Borneo, where forest loss is the greatest threat to their existence. Naturally occurring forest fires, and those set by farmers and large companies to clear the way for plantations of oil palm, fast-growing pulpwood, and other crops, devastate forests. The destruction spreads even further during dry years.



In 1997, an area the size of New Jersey burned in Indonesia, and many of the fires occurred in orangutan habitat. Large reserves and strictly enforced wildlife protection laws are needed to keep orangutans safe from extinction. That is one factor that endangered orangutan