pattaya127 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 My interest a few of you: ----------------------------------------- Cheryl Knott is both studying orangutans and working to conserve their populations. With funding from National Geographic's Committee for Research and Exploration, she and her team spent thousands of hours over several years observing the animals' behavior and documenting their physiology. In 2001 and 2002, Knott received support from the National Geographic Conservation Trust to help promote local awareness and pride for the Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesia, through a community outreach and education program. Orangutans are the world's largest arboreal mammal, eating, sleeping, nesting, and traveling in the trees of the rain forest. "They're in the trees 99 percent of the time," said Knott. Rarely coming to the ground, they live on the fruits, leaves, seeds, bark, and insects of the rain forests. "The pace of the logging is increasing and escalating," said Knott. "Now they're moving much further, quite far, into the interior, and it's just really critical that we stop it because the interior part of the park is the last, really the only, long term research site in the world. The Toll of Logging It's not just a matter of taking down a few large trees, Knott said. As the loggers move further into the forest, they also take down smaller trees to build a kind of railroad called a kuda-kuda, that enables them to pull the logs on a sled out to the riverbanks, where they can be floated downstream. Once the most valuable trees have been taken down, the kuda-kuda trails are often sold to another group of loggers and the areas are repeatedly logged for less valuable trees. In addition to destroying their food resources, logging increases the number and size of gaps in the tree canopy, creating forest islands that isolate populations. The gaps also lead to devastating fires. "It opens it up to sunlight, and you get lots of dead wood on the ground," said Knott. "Normally a primary rain forest will not burn. Also, once you get big gaps, grasslands moves in, and once a forest is converted to grassland, it doesn't go back. Indonesia has suffered several devastating fires in the last ten years, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of peat swamp forest and rain forest. Local Resistance A major problem facing conservationists is resistance to halting illegal logging at the local level. "At the national level there really is a commitment to stop the logging," said Knott, but there's a lot of local resistance. For many village families, money earned from illegal logging is the primary source of income. The villagers are frequently funded by middle men, leading to a cycle of being constantly indebted. They're being exploited really," said Knott. "The local people really aren't getting much money for the dangerous work they're doing. The national government recently sent in a team of 60 or so police officers to halt the logging in the national park, but once they left, the villagers returned to the forest. The park has rangers who patrol the forest, but they're not very well funded, their training is minimal, and they're not particularly effective in stopping the logging, according to Knott. "A lot of the problems are with the local police and military. Non-governmental organizations are trying to work with the local people to alleviate the economic stress that contributes to illegal logging, but no models have yet proved successful. "Even if the local villagers are helped, then people come from farther away," said Knott. Dwindling Habitat, Numbers In the meantime, orangutans are suffering. They are not responding well to the logging and the scream of the chain saws, according to Knott, displaying erratic behavior and not eating well. Perhaps of most concern, they don't seem to be moving. The females in particular, seem to be trying to stay in the same area, despite the much reduced food supply and canopy cover. Even a move to new territory would be problematic if the forest was already at carrying capacity, said Knott. Unfortunately, in addition to logging, the orangutans face multiple other threats. The number of babies being stolen for the pet trade is increasing, and "the only way to get a baby is to kill the mother," said Knott. Her team has confiscated more than 20 orangutans being kept as pets. Half of the owners were police or military officials. Villagers frequently kill orangutans venturing out of the forests in search of food. Although many of the local people are Muslim and won't eat orangutans, more and more of the animals are being killed to supply meat to the legal logging concessions. The orangutan's own biology could impede a population recovery if their numbers get too low: Female orangutans give birth only once every eight years. People know that the great apes?chimpanzees and gorillas?in Africa are threatened, said Knott; what they might not know is that orangutans are farther along the trajectory of extinction. "Orangutans may the first of the great apes to go extinct in the wild if we don't do something," said Knott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 P127, Hi. Yes, this is tragic, as is the fate of many of the worlds endangered species. Every night, I turn on the News or a program like 'DateLine', and see people hacking one another to death with machetes (much of sub-Saharan Africa) or firing missiles into their enemies living rooms (the Middle East). Earth has survived meteor impacts, constant earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but its future is in doubt because of the activities of a hairless ape with an oversized brain. Another meteor right now would be a good thing - lets hope the next set of amoeba turn out better than the last ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torrenova Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted October 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Well, here in california we found a place for one of them big apes: governorship. or rather: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 California is still full of surprises. Good luck with the 'terminator' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted October 8, 2003 Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Interesting that I speak of Armageddon and you raise the issue of the Terminator becoming Governator Anyone remember what happened the last time the American people put an *actor* in a position of power ? No ? Well, he jizzed all over a young intern's dress and .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted October 8, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2003 Well, he jizzed all over a young intern's dress and .... ------------------------ KInd of getting boring indeed in the immaculate house, make war, not love I guess . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.