Despite government claims, orangutan populations have not increased

5 years ago
Anonymous $yysEBM5EYi

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181105122446.htm

A recent report by the Government of Indonesia states that orangutan populations have increased by more than 10% from 2015 to 2017. These numbers are criticised in an article published in the current issue of Current Biology. Lead author Erik Meijaard from the Center of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland and director of Borneo Futures in Brunei explains: "These numbers are in strong contrast with other recent publications about orangutan status and trends."

According to the authors, over the past ten years alone, the number of Bornean orangutans has declined by at least 25%, representing a loss of more than 100,000 individuals since the year 1999. Sumatran orangutans and the recently described Tapanuli orangutan lost more than 60% of their forest habitat between 1985 and 2007, and their populations are expected to further decline by 11 to 27% until 2020.