AUCKLAND ZOO SUPPORTS ORANG UTAN CONSERVATION EFFORTS

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birth of endangered great ape

Thursday, 15 December 2005, 11:36 am

Press Release: Auckland Zoo 15 December 2005

 

Auckland Zoo welcomes birth of endangered great ape

 

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version<http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/0512/eb15cea3e79737266b41.jpeg>

Melur

and Madju taken by Auckland Zoo's photographer, Graham Meadows

 

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Auckland Zoo's Bornean orang utan Melur is being the perfect mum to her

new-born son Madju, whom she delivered with ease earlier last month.

 

 

Confident, but cautious, and one hundred percent attentive, she looks at him

adoringly like any proud and doting mother. The mother-baby bond is

breathtakingly human-like from this great ape, whose genetic make-up is 97

per cent similar to humans.

 

The birth boosts the zoo's orang utan population to nine for this endangered

species, which, arguably the world's slowest-breeding land mammal, produces

offspring only about once every eight years.

 

" Madju's (Indonesian for 'to make progress') birth is really something to

celebrate. It's very positive. But the fact that almost 90 per cent of both

Bornean and Sumatran orang utan habitat has been decimated by illegal

logging and the growth of palm oil plantations, is anything but, " says

Auckland Zoo Curator, Maria Finnigan.

 

Orangutans are only found in Borneo (Malaysia) and Sumatra (Indonesia) -

also the world's largest producers and exporters of palm oil. Found in

everything from margarines to beauty products, palm oil is forecast to

become the world's most produced and internationally traded edible oil by

2012.

 

Orangutan numbers in the wild are dropping rapidly, and if this current

growth of palm oil plantations continues, orang utan could become extinct in

the wild in less than 20 years. The illegal pet trade of infant orang utans

is also impacting on numbers. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) currently

classifies Bornean orang utans (population 12,000 - 20,000) as 'Endangered',

and Sumatran orang utans, (population just 7,000), as 'Critically

Endangered'.

 

 

 

" It's an appalling and unnecessary situation, and I believe that with the

right intentions and actions, we do not have to see this magnificent species

become extinct in our lifetime, " says Maria Finnigan, who has worked

extensively in Africa with other great ape species.

 

" As 'The Oil for Ape Scandal', (a collaborative report by a number of NGOs

including Friends of the Earth) states, forest conversion is not necessary

for the future growth of the oil-palm sector. This report also urges the

Indonesian and Malaysian governments to ban forest conversion, and advises

that greater productive efficiency and the redirection of plantation

development on the millions of hectares of abandoned and heavily degraded

land, would greatly reduce the destruction of forests. These are the kind of

actions that need to happen, " says Ms Finnigan.

 

Through its Conservation Fund, Auckland Zoo continues to support the work of

the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), and advocate for this

species. Founded in 1999, SOCP has 120,000 ha of protected lowland forest

and a purpose-built medical quarantine facility in northern Sumatra. Its

roles encompass rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing 'ex-pet' animals,

public education, research and monitoring, and habitat protection. Among

fundraising events the Conservation Fund will run over summer, will be a

special screening of the classic 'King Kong' at the zoo on 26 January.

 

At present, Zoo visitors may see Melur and Madju in their outdoor enclosure

where they are spending short periods, or in the orang utan playroom. But as

the weeks go by their time outside will increase, and chances of a good view

of mum and baby will be more likely. Footage of Melur and her baby can also

be viewed at the zoo's Paddlepop Kidzone area.

 

ENDS