Photograph: Marc AncrenazHunting and killing have driven a dramatic decline in the orangutan population on Borneo where nearly 150,000 animals have been lost from the island’s forests in 16 years, conservationists warn. The real decline could be worse, because the prediction is based only on habitat loss, and does not include killings. Conservationists predict orangutan numbers could fall at least another 45,000 in the next 35 years. The nests have long been used to infer the sizes of orangutan populations because the animals themselves are so elusive. In the dense forests, orangutan numbers fell by 50%.

Source: The Guardian February 15, 2018 17:01 UTC