About half of the orangutans on the island of Borneo were either killed or removed between 1999 and 2015, according to new research.
Key points
- Surveys show only 70,000 - 100,000 orangutans remain in the wild in Borneo
- Deforestation one factor, but greater losses seen in forested areas
- Hunting may be the biggest driver
"That's a huge amount of loss," said Professor Serge Wich from Liverpool John Moores University, a co-author of the study published today in the journal
Current Biology.
"It's a higher amount than we thought, and that we were thinking based on previous studies," Professor Wich said.
Maria Voigt from the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology is another co-author of the research, which pooled data from 38 international institutions.
Orangutan numbers in Borneo plummet by more than 100,000 in just 16 years - Science News - ABC News: