Scientists from Scotland are leading a project to help save the orangutan.
Dr Peter Wilkie, a tropical botanist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), is to carry out conservation research into the favourite fruit trees of the endangered apes in the “biodiversity hotspot” of Sarawak in Borneo.
“When most people look at an orangutan, they don’t tend to focus on what it is hanging from or the fruit it is eating,” Dr Wilkie said. “But if we want to ensure the survival of these amazing animals we need to ensure the survival of the plants they depend upon.
“Orangutans rely on the trees, and one of the big things scientists are trying to get across is that if you want orangutans, you need the forests.
“We need to understand what they eat, how they disperse the fruit and how the orangutans interact with the forest at all different levels.”
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Sarawak is a Malaysian state stretching along Borneo’s northwest coast, known for its rugged, dense rainforest.
The orangutan is only found in parts of Borneo and parts of Sumatra. On both islands their habitats are severely threatened by the increase in human activities such as logging, mining, forest fires and the ongoing construction of palm oil plantations. Currently, the orangutans of Sumatra are critically endangered, with only a few thousand left. On Borneo, there are thought to be fewer than 50,000.
The Malaysian state has opened up its Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) to foreign researchers, allowing Dr Wilkie to attend the launch of a five-way international memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the Sarawak state capital, Kuching.
As part of the initiative, four field sites have been selected for an intensified research programme, including the lowland and hill forests of Nanga Segrak and Nanga Bloh in Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary.
The project will be led by a group of eminent international and regional scientists with field experience in the state.
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Dr Wilkie said: “While Sarawak’s landscape has changed rapidly as development has progressed in recent decades, our understanding of the impact of changes such as deforestation to natural areas has lagged behind.
“The biggest threat to the orangutan is the loss of their habitat. As the forest becomes smaller and smaller, there is a critical mass where they cannot sustain themselves because there is not enough food. They then start to venture into oil palm plantations or urban areas where they are threatened.
“The areas we will be working in are protected areas, trying to understand the forest so that we can best understand and protect the orangutans and other species.”